The Trump administration is considering canned spray cheese beef jerky, lemon juice and pimiento-stuffed olives as staple foods for those in the federal food stamp program under a proposed rule.While Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Agriculture Department said this would save stores money "under the revised minimum stocking requirements for staple foods," the Center for Science in the Public Interest was not content with the proposal from a nutrition standpoint.These proposed requirements would allow stores to stock up to six fewer items, saving them $500 per store over the span of five years.Although retailers would save money, low-income families and their access to healthy food options would be impacted, CSPI concluded."You don’t have to have a nutrition degree to know that canned spray cheese sauce is not a staple food," CSPI's vice president for nutrition Margo Wootan told Bloomberg.The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, requires stores to carry a certain number of meat, dairy, grain, fruit and vegetable options.The Federal Register notice cited canned spray cheese sauce as an example of a dairy staple. It would count beef jerky as a staple in the category of meat, poultry or fish, and lemon juice and jarred pimiento-stuffed olives would be counted as fruit and vegetables.

The Trump administration is considering canned spray cheese beef jerky, lemon juice and pimiento-stuffed olives as staple foods for those in the federal food stamp program under a proposed rule.



While Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Agriculture Department said this would save stores money "under the revised minimum stocking requirements for staple foods," the Center for Science in the Public Interest was not content with the proposal from a nutrition standpoint.


These proposed requirements would allow stores to stock up to six fewer items, saving them $500 per store over the span of five years.

Although retailers would save money, low-income families and their access to healthy food options would be impacted, CSPI concluded.

"You don’t have to have a nutrition degree to know that canned spray cheese sauce is not a staple food," CSPI's vice president for nutrition Margo Wootan told Bloomberg.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, requires stores to carry a certain number of meat, dairy, grain, fruit and vegetable options.

The Federal Register notice cited canned spray cheese sauce as an example of a dairy staple. It would count beef jerky as a staple in the category of meat, poultry or fish, and lemon juice and jarred pimiento-stuffed olives would be counted as fruit and vegetables.