Opinion | Five reforms to reorient SNAP toward nutrition and health

1. If we can’t restrict unhealthy choices, incentivize good ones. More than two dozen states participate in a program known as Double Up Food Bucks, which essentially allows individuals to double the value of their benefits if they purchase fruits and vegetables. One analysis found that participants consumed more produce compared with the average American. The program has broad support, including by farmers who can sell their products to SNAP recipients at local farmers markets.

Congress should pass bipartisan legislation sponsored by Reps. Eric A. “Rick” Crawford (R-Ark.) and Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.) to expand Double Up Food Bucks. The bill would also bolster the Produce Prescription Program, which gives health-care providers the ability to prescribe fresh produce to low-income patients with health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. Just as prescriptions for pills can be filled at pharmacies, prescriptions for healthy food can be redeemed at grocery stores and farmers markets.

2. Support local efforts to reduce food deserts. When I served as Baltimore’s health commissioner, the city partnered with a supermarket to deliver groceries to senior centers and libraries. We helped corner stores, which for some residents are the only source of accessible food, to improve refrigeration and stock produce.

There are many such efforts in communities around the country. But while there is hardly any political opposition to them, little appetite exists to fund them through municipal budgets. Private philanthropy should continue funding these pilots, but cities and states also need to invest in increasing food access.

3. Strengthen retail stocking standards. I recently spoke with Dan Glickman, who served as agriculture secretary in the Clinton administration and co-chaired a task force for the Bipartisan Policy Center that made recommendations for SNAP reform. (I am on the organization’s board but was not involved in this report.) One of the pragmatic steps the task force champions is to change requirements for the quality of food offerings in stores.

The federal government sets benchmarks for stores to be authorized to accept SNAP payments. These standards can be strengthened to mandate more options for lean protein, whole grains, dairy, and fruits and vegetables. To ensure that more stringent standards don’t worsen food access, smaller stores in food-desert areas should be eligible for financial and technical assistance.

4. Support educational programs. The farm bill already includes a federal grant program called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education, or SNAP-Ed, which helps people receiving SNAP benefits choose healthier foods and learn to cook meals. The program can be expanded to assist more low-income families.

I’d also like to see the federal government put pressure on retailers and the food industry to change their marketing practices. As Glickman told me, food advertising often features ultra-processed, high-fat, high-calorie products. “You don’t see blueberries advertised on TV,” he said. He’s right; blueberries — as well as broccoli, Brussels sprouts and other nutritious foods — need some airtime, too. A national public-private campaign can help promote healthy eating.

5. Improve data collection. In this digital age, in which all kinds of personal information are collected on shoppers’ purchase habits, it’s a travesty that the federal government was last able to compile comprehensive data on SNAP purchases in 2011. That’s right: Even though grocery stores and the food and beverage industry all have this information, and are using it for their own purposes, it is not accessible to taxpayers who are funding SNAP.

Thankfully, there are bipartisan bills to change this. Rubio and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have sponsored legislation calling on the Agriculture Department, with participation from the food industry, to conduct a full review of SNAP purchases. Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) have introduced a similar proposal in the House. Such information is essential to identifying opportunities for policy changes.

It’s disappointing that despite the clear public health rationale, restricting purchases of sodas and junk foods is a political non-starter. But I’m encouraged that there are areas of compromise that, while not as transformative as I’d like, offer a sensible start to improving a program that provides food assistance to more than 40 million Americans.