The USDA is trying to expand online grocery shopping for SNAP recipients by adding local and regional grocers to the program, said Agriculture deputy undersecretary Brandon Lipps. The USDA said over 1 million SNAP households shopped online in September, out of more than 22 million households participating in the program.
Online shopping is authorized in 46 states and the District of Columbia, the result of a rapid expansion of a pilot program during the coronavirus pandemic. In many of the states, Walmart and Amazon are the only retailers that accept SNAP payments online. The USDA said nearly a dozen retailers were going through the approval and testing process to join the program.
In addition, the USDA said it awarded $2.5 million to the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition, of Omaha, Nebraska, to develop and test a system for online shopping by WIC recipients. The three-year grant would include testing WIC shopping in five states.