The re-emergence of the work requirements has stoked discontent among advocates for the poor and hungry who say the law is unfair because states are not required to offer food stamp recipients a work assignment before cutting them off, and because searching for a job does not necessarily count. The Agriculture Department makes money available to states willing to pledge work assignments to food stamp recipients, but many states do not take advantage of it. Recently the department announced that it had provided $200 million to 10 states for pilot programs that would help people find jobs and move them off food stamps.

“If the job situation in the area is a really a tough situation, this is an incredibly harsh provision,” said Ellen Vollinger, the legal and food stamp director for the Food Research and Action Center. “There’s going to be harm, and it’s going to show up in greater hunger, probably in greater instances of health problems and could show up in greater instances of homelessness.”

Around the country, food pantry directors are girding for an influx of hungry adults as the work requirement re-emerges. In Wisconsin, the time limit kicked in statewide on April 1, and the independent Legislative Fiscal Bureau there has estimated that 31,000 people could lose their food stamps.

“We’re going to run out of food,” said Sherrie Tussler, the executive director of the Hunger Task Force Milwaukee. “It’s going to cause wide-scale hunger here in Milwaukee, and we’re in trouble.”

The staff at the food pantry in Brunswick estimated that 10 clients a week have been losing their food stamps to this provision. It expects that it will see an increase in visits and the amount of food it will need to provide.

Jackie Dulack, 38, picked up bread and pork at the Brunswick pantry, and had no plan for when the food ran out. Ms. Dulack, who said she was unemployed and had no income, received a letter from the state last fall saying she would lose her food stamps if she did not meet the work requirement.

She said that her food stamps had since been cut off and that the general assistance office had told her that she would need to be working to get them back. (The State Department of Health and Human Services would not confirm her benefit status, citing privacy law.)