Store Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible to accept SNAP benefits, a store must sell food for home preparation and consumption and meet at least one of the criteria below:

(A)	Offer for sale at least three different varieties of food in each of the following four staple food groups, with perishable foods in at least two categories, on a daily basis:
		Bread & Grains
		Dairy
		Fruits & Vegetables
		Meat, Poultry, Fish
	OR
(B)	At least 50 percent of the total sales (e.g., food, non-food, services, etc.) at your store must be from the sale of eligible staple food.

Definitions:

Perishable: foods that are fresh, refrigerated, or frozen. Packaged or canned goods are not considered perishable.

Staple Food: a basic dietary item (e.g., bread, flour, fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken, fish, etc.).  Snack or accessory foods; such as chips, soda, coffee, condiments, and spices, are not staple foods.  In addition, you may not count ready to eat, prepared foods as staple foods.

Variety: is defined as different types of food.  For example, your store has a variety of dairy items if you sell milk, yogurt, and cheese on a daily basis. It would not have a variety of dairy items if  you only sold three versions of milk (e.g., skim milk, evaporated milk, whole milk).

Last modified: 11/21/2008|