USDA set a 35-day public comment period on how to comply with an appellate court decision for release of records showing a retailer’s food stamp sales. The Sioux Falls (SD) Argus Leader won a Freedom of Information lawsuit for access to annual sales totals for each retailer. The newspaper said the information was important because of questions if small stores were responsible for a disproportionate share of food stamp fraud. More than 250,000 retailers are authorized to redeem food stamps.
“In moving forward, USDA is interested in providing greater transparency,” the department said in a Federal Register notice that posed five questions. They focused on whether to release sales totals at the store level at a monthly or annual basis to increase public knowledge of program operations and if the release would compromise confidential business information. USDA also asked about release of aggregated data for sales by retailer in a state or nationwide, either on a monthly or annual tally.