Lawmakers in Congress have introduced the SNAP Nutrition Security Act, a bill that would establish metrics and reporting to assess the impact of SNAP on nutrition security and food security. The bill strengthens the evidence base for a stronger SNAP program. It doesn’t change what SNAP customers can buy. Learn why this legislation is critical to improving access to healthy nutrition.
What is the Nutrition Security Act?
The Farm Bill is a comprehensive law that funds a wide range of food and agriculture programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). About every five years, Congress passes a new Farm Bill, giving policymakers a chance to strengthen critical food and agriculture programs. The upcoming Farm Bill is a critical opportunity for Congress to address long-standing inequities in access to healthy food, strengthen our food system, and reduce nutrition-related diseases, thereby reducing the burden of health care costs.
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Lawmakers in Congress have introduced legislation requiring USDA to establish metrics to assess the impact of SNAP on nutrition security, food security, and diet quality. The SNAP Nutrition Security Act of 2023 (S.2326/HR4909) has bipartisan and bicameral support and is sponsored in the Senate by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Representative Josh Gottheimer. (D-NJ-05) and Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR-05) in the House of Representatives.
The legislation would codify definitions of food security, nutrition security, and diet quality and require USDA to annually measure and report nutrition security and diet quality among SNAP participants, just as the agency currently does for food security. It would also require state SNAP-Ed agencies to produce recommendations on ways to improve food and nutrition security and diet quality. In addition, the bill would allow USDA to collect and report national and state-level sales data on the types of items purchased through SNAP every four years, making it aggregated and de-identified. Finally, the legislation would add the goal of improving food security, nutrition security, and diet quality to Congress’s SNAP policy statement.
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It is important to note that the SNAP Nutrition Security Act will not change or restrict the items SNAP participants can purchase under the program or change their benefit levels in any way. The bill is a way to better measure the nutritional outcomes and food purchasing behavior of the approximately one in eight U.S. residents who access SNAP to provide data to improve health outcomes. Knowing what types of food are purchased will help measure food and nutrition security more accurately than self-reported data and will inform future strategies to strengthen SNAP.
Read more: SNAP Nutrition Security Act of 2023
SNAP Nutrition Security Act: One-page summary from congressional offices
How might the SNAP Nutrition Security Act improve health?
SNAP is a powerful safety net program with many positive public health impacts for the millions of children, adults, seniors, and people with disabilities who participate. The program provides financial benefits through an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card that participants can use to purchase groceries in-store and online from more than 250,000 retailers nationwide. SNAP is the nation’s largest federally funded nutrition assistance program and the first line of defense against food insecurity, a proxy for hunger. However, low-income individuals and families face systemic and structural barriers that can reduce their access to nutritious foods.
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Although we know that SNAP is effective in reducing poverty and food insecurity, we do not currently have sufficient data to measure how SNAP affects participants’ access to and consumption of nutritious foods. While the USDA has a working definition of nutritional security, the agency does not yet have a formal definition or criteria for assessing nutritional security. Therefore, the agency cannot evaluate SNAP’s role in reducing diet-related disease disparities through improving nutrition security.
The SNAP Nutrition Security Act will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how SNAP affects nutrition security. This could help support programs like the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP), a federal program designed to increase access to healthy foods for individuals participating in SNAP through financial incentives for fruit and vegetable purchases.
SNAP Nutrition Security Act: Corporate signature letter
List of organizations that approve the SNAP Nutrition Security Act
- American Heart Association;
- Action for Healthy Children;
- State Association of Public Health Nutritionists;
- Balanced;
- Bipartisan Policy Center;
- Center for Science in the Public Interest;
- ChangeLab Solutions;
- Colorado Children’s Campaign;
- Good Precautions;
- Hunger Free America;
- International Fresh Produce Association;
- José Andrés, Chef and Founder of the Global Food Institute at George Washington University;
- Login for Healthy Children;
- Mission: Preparation;
- National Association of Developmental Disability Councils;
- Nemours Children’s Health;
- Nutrition Policy Initiative at Tufts University;
- Partnership for a Healthier America;
- Real Food for Kids;
- University of Connecticut Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health;
- Association of Behavioral Medicine;
- Center for Black Health Equity
How can you help?
CSPI is working to protect SNAP and strengthen the program’s public health impacts, including calling on policymakers to maintain and strengthen benefit levels, reduce access barriers, strengthen nutrition incentives, and create healthier retail food environments. You can support our work today.