Corner stores better known for booze and Flamin' Hot Cheetos may be required to stock more good-for-you foods like broccoli and mangoes.
All retailers that accept federal reimbursement for food stamps, known as Link cards in Illinois, likely will have to stock healthier food soon or leave the program. Under the controversial proposed changes to the $74 billion Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the required variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, proteins, dairy and bread stocked at participating retailers would more than double. The goal is to increase the availability of healthy food for low-income people, federal regulators say.
Since the overhaul was announced in February, many business owners and legislators have pushed back, saying the changes would disproportionately burden small convenience stores, retail pharmacies and corner stores that provide sustenance in rural and urban areas considered to be food deserts. The end result would be tens of thousands of stores forced to drop out of SNAP, opponents say, leading to the exact opposite of the intended impact — less access to nutritious food.
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