Are Food Stamp Regulations Too Tough?
While many Americans are preoccupied with trying to eat less, millions of people in this country don’t always have enough to eat. Recently, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that “food insecurity”—defined as the lack of access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life—affected more than 11% of all American households in 2002. Parke Wilde, PhD, assistant professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, studies the link between food insecurity and US food assistance programs and recently raised a concern about red tape potentially limiting access to the program. One topic of Wilde’s research is how the exhaustive eligibility rules and recertification procedures of the US Food Stamp Program (FSP) may discourage some eligible low-income Americans from participating. In a recent journal article with fellow economist Nader Kabbani, Wilde discusses how many states have implemented an aggressive process that requires participants to recertify ever
