The government could soon be required to make public how much a retailer or a specific store records in food stamp sales, says a story in Mother Jones and produced in partnership with the Food and Environment Reporting Network; a longer version appears at thefern.org. The nation’s largest grocer, Walmart, handles 18 pct of all food stamp sales in the country, or $13 bln worth, according to estimates. The Agriculture Department has until April 28 to decide whether to appeal an appellate court ruling in favor of release of the data. The Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus started the case in 2011.
USDA argues the data is private business information. Grocers say it is proprietary information. “Currently, the USDA releases data on food stamp spending by zip code and store type,” says the Mother Jones story. It says the Argus case could lay the ground work for release of data about which foods people buy with food stamps. A candidate for chairmanship of the House Agriculture Committee next year says the data on individual purchases could be used to encourage healthier diets.