3. Feeding More Children and Families in Need

USDA’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services (FNCS) mission area is responsible for administering the Department’s domestic nutrition assistance programs, designing and disseminating nutrition education information, and developing and promoting dietary guidance.

The mission of the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is to ensure access to nutritious, healthful diets for more Americans in need of food assistance. Through food assistance and nutrition education for consumers, FNS encourages consumers to make healthful food choices. FNS administers 15 food assistance programs, including the Food Stamp Program; the Child Nutrition Programs; and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). These programs make up the Federal nutrition safety net. In 1997, they served about one in six Americans, most of them children.

FNS programs provide those in need with access to a more nutritious diet, improve the eating habits of the Nation’s children, and help America’s farmers by providing an outlet for the distribution of food purchased under farmer assistance authorities. FNS works in partnerships with the States in all its programs. States determine most administrative details regarding distribution of food benefits, and FNS provides funding to cover certain of the States’ administrative costs.

The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) develops and coordinates nutrition policy in USDA; assesses the cost-effectiveness of Government-sponsored nutrition programs on food consumption, food expenditures, food-related behavior, and nutritional status; prepares periodic updates on the cost of family food plans and of raising children; investigates techniques for effective nutrition communication for Americans; and evaluates the nutrition content of the U.S. food supply. In conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CNPP publishes the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Accomplishment Highlights

Gleaning Becomes a Priority
Noting that a USDA study showed the United States wastes 96 billion pounds of food each year, Secretary Glickman made food recovery and gleaning a USDA-wide priority. He hosted the first- ever National Summit on Food Recovery and Gleaning September 15-16 in Washington, DC, which featured remarks by Vice President Al Gore. At the summit, downlinked to 150 sites nationwide, the Secretary announced government, community, volunteer, and business efforts to help feed the hungry. The Federal Government will lead a public-private partnership to work toward increasing food recovery by 33 percent by the year 2000, providing sufficient additional food to feed 450,000 people a day. The Vice President released a report on Household Food Security in the United States for 1995, and Secretary Glickman announced that USDA employees had donated over 500,000 pounds of food for distribution to local food banks around the country.

Implementing Welfare Reform
After the 1996 welfare reform law eliminated food stamp benefits for most legal immigrants, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) worked with several States to establish State-funded programs that provided nutrition support for the most vulnerable of those who lost their Federal benefits. Eight States implemented their own programs, and more were expected to follow suit.

Improving Management of the Food Stamp Program
Continuing its commitment to fighting fraud, the Food and Nutrition Service implemented tough new integrity provisions for food stamp retailers, including pre-authorization screening, tougher post-authorization controls, and stiffer penalties for violators. During FY 1997, the Food Stamp Program investigated 4,627 retailers, and fined or disqualified 1,584 for program violations. Of those, 712 retailers, with redemptions of $79.5 million, were identified as having engaged in trafficking (the exchange of food stamps for cash). A 3-week intensive effort--dubbed "Operation Five Points"--focused on retailers in Detroit, Jersey City, Los Angeles, Miami, and New Orleans and uncovered 403 retailers, with redemptions of $54 million, who had committed violations. The anti-fraud sweeps uncovered violations serious enough that criminal cases would be pursued against some retailers and others would be warned, fined, or face possible permanent disqualification from the Food Stamp Program.

Food stamp issuance error rates declined in each of the last 3 years, saving taxpayers $660 million. FNS announced that the 1996 error rate declined to 9.22 percent from the previous year’s 9.72 percent, for a single-year savings of more than $85 million.

FNS continues to use Federal income tax offsets to collect claims owed by former food stamp recipients for overpayment of benefits stemming either from intentional program violations or inadvertent household errors. FNS collected $56 million using tax offsets in 1997.

WIC Program Approaches Full Participation
The year 1997 saw a long-awaited milestone reached in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children--the WIC Program. Full participation was achieved through a 30-percent expansion in the program to almost 7.4 million by the end of 1997. The expansion was made possible partly by WIC State agencies obtaining rebates on infant formula--a practice that saved $1.2 billion in 1997, permitting WIC to provide services to an additional 1.6 million participants without increasing the WIC appropriation.

Improving Child Nutrition
FNS has worked actively to promote healthy menus for schools participating in the school meals programs. Public affairs and program staffs at Headquarters and in the regional offices have coordinated dozens of Team Nutrition events in schools across the country, promoting good nutrition to school children, teachers, administrators, and school foodservice professional staffs. FNS arranged for professional chefs to participate in many Team Nutrition events; introduced schools to new foods, new recipes, and new professional techniques; and provided new publications to help school food authorities promote healthy menus.

In recognition of its dedication and innovations in nutrition education for children, Team Nutrition received national honors from three major professional organizations: The Public Relations Society of America, the Society for Nutrition Education, and the American Dietetic Association.

Targeting Benefits to Those Most in Need
FNS implemented the two-tiered reimbursement structure mandated by the welfare reform law of 1996 for family day care homes participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program. The new reimbursement plan better targets benefits to low-income children.

Ensuring Safe, Nutritious, Affordable, and Accessible Food for the Hungry
USDA worked vigorously in 1997 to continue the momentum generated by the November 1996 World Food Summit. USDA is coordinating the Federal Government’s follow-up to the summit, with emphasis on strengthening the U.S. contribution to alleviating hunger and malnutrition both at home and abroad. Central to that effort is the development of a U.S. Action Plan on Food Security, to serve as a blueprint for future U.S. policies and programs.

WIC/Farmers Market Nutrition Program
The Farmers Market Nutrition Program of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provided $9 million in revenue to 8,250 farmers through purchases by benefit recipients in 1996. Additional funding will expand the program and gain more WIC customers at farmers markets. Many farmers markets are also authorized to redeem food stamps.

FNS Provides Emergency Food Aid After Natural Disasters
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service springs into action at the first sign of a devastating natural disaster. For example:

• Within hours after Hurricane Fran, which plagued coastal communities in North Carolina in September 1996, FNS deployed national and regional office staff to Raleigh, North Carolina. They worked with State and county officials to develop an emergency food response. Within a day or two, USDA commodity foods were provided to 134 American Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other shelters serving meals to hurricane victims. At the request of the North Carolina Governor’s office, Secretary Glickman approved a Disaster Food Stamp Program for 34 North Carolina counties, resulting in the distribution of $48.7 million in emergency and replacement benefits to approximately 185,000 households. Secretary Glickman noted that, “One of USDA's top priorities is always to ensure that no one goes hungry as a result of a natural disaster.”
• During the week of April 14, 1997, USDA released over 78,000 pounds of USDA commodities to provide congregate meals to flood victims in Minnesota and North Dakota. USDA recovery efforts in the Red River Valley included truckloads of canned fruit, meat, cheese, and juice shipped to shelters and feeding centers. In Minnesota, the Disaster Food Stamp Program provided 1,411 households with $408,500 in disaster food stamp assistance. In North Dakota, the Disaster Food Stamp Program ended May 6 in eight counties, where nearly 3,012 households had received disaster food stamp assistance totaling more than $712,900.
• In Guam, USDA approved more than 27,218 households for over $8.4 million in disaster food stamp assistance following Typhoon Paka in late December 1997. USDA also worked to provide housing assistance to 25 families left homeless by the typhoon.