Participants May Buy Groceries Online in New YorkRelease #: FNS 0003.19Contact: FNS Communications, (703) 305-2281Date: 04/18/2019Washington, D.C., April 18, 2019 – For the first time, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants will be able to select and pay […]

Release #: FNS 0002.19Contact: Contact: FNS Communications 703-305-2281Date: 04/12/2019WASHINGTON, April 12, 2019 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture published a final rule today designed to ensure that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) standards on eligibility for […]

As we wait for the EU to decide on a Brexit delay, the national mood has turned poisonousThe mood has turned nastier since I first visited the Big Help Project food bank in Knowsley, Merseyside, two years ago. Back then, the Brexit poison hadn’t seeped so deep. But now, when the call goes out […]

Joint DWP and HMRC report was released on Thursday but dated November 2017Ministers sat for nearly a year and a half on research that revealed that tax credit claimants experienced “real financial problems” after they signed on to universal credit, it has emerged.The joint Department […]

Release #: FNS-0001.19Contact: FNS Communications 703-305-2281Date: 04/03/2019WASHINGTON, April 3, 2019 – To aid Iowa residents impacted by recent flooding, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the availability of Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance […]

Date: 04/03/2019Underscoring its commitment to customer input on its actions, the U.S. Department of Agriculture today sent a notice for publication in the Federal Register to re-open the comment period for the “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP):  Requirements for […]

Release #: USDA 0039.19Contact: FNS Communications (703) 305-2281Date: 03/28/2019WASHINGTON, March 28, 2019 – Low-income Nebraskans recovering from recent flooding could be eligible for food benefits through the Disaster SNAP (D-SNAP) program approved today by the U.S. […]

Readers Rob Davies, Jeff Skinner and Dave Newsome take issue with a previous letter on the institutionalisation of charitable food banksThe professors writing about the institutionalisation of food banks (Letters, 25 March) illuminate a familiar dilemma in all charitable activity: is it just a […]

Call to deal with root causes of food poverty as 480,000 parcels delivered in 18 monthsThe number of crisis food parcels being distributed in Scotland is almost double previous estimates, with campaigners predicting a similar increase across the rest of the UK as further data is gathered.The new […]

The government is essentially subsidising firms to waste food, then redistribute it to boost their reputations. It’s grotesqueWho benefits from food banks? The donors? The volunteers? The recipients? You might be surprised – and dismayed – to learn that big food corporations from […]

Letter by 58 campaigners and academics says corporate approach is a ‘sticking plaster’The UK food bank movement has been warned it is in danger of being “captured” by big corporations and supermarket chains that promote high-profile partnerships with charities as effective […]

Charitable food aid is a sticking plaster on a gaping wound of systemic inequality in the UK and US, say signatories including Prof Olivier de Schutter, a former UN special rapporteur on the right to foodAt a time when the UK’s likely break with Europe is widely expected to increase poverty […]

Meeting Kicks Off at USDA on March 28, 29, Chair and Vice Chair NamedRelease #: USDA No. 0033.19Contact: USDA Press Email: press@oc.usda.govDate: 03/19/2019WASHINGTON, March 19, 2019 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in coordination with the U.S. Department of […]

The prime minister wants more women screened – but she won’t stump up the money to keep hospital laboratories openYes, it feels almost impossible, but Theresa May was actually praised for her behaviour and leadership in the House of Commons a few months ago. In January, prompted by […]

Thoughts on the pay and tax of the rich from Bernie Evans, Chris Hughes and Martin LuntThe fact that more than 3,500 UK-based bankers earn over €1m, at a time when callous austerity policies are still causing hardship and the numbers of homeless and food bank users increase daily, is appalling […]

Release #: USDA 0030.19Contact: USDA Press Email: press@oc.usda.govDate: 03/13/2019WASHINGTON, March 13, 2019 -- In a continuing effort to help Americans make healthy food choices, and in honor of National Nutrition Month®, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny […]

Release #: USDA 0025.19Contact: Press@oc.usda.govDate: 03/01/2019(Washington, D.C., February 28, 2019) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today reiterated during a U.S. Senate hearing the need to restore the original intent of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance […]

Scientific Experts Will Review Scientific Evidence on Key Nutrition Topics to Inform Development of New GuidelinesRelease #: 0022.19Contact: USDA Press Email: press@oc.usda.govDate: 02/21/2019WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2019 – To ensure America’s dietary guidance reflects the […]

Amber Rudd said it is “absolutely clear” problems with accessing benefits led to increased use of food banks 4.56pm GMT Thanks for following the blog and for all your comments today, Andrew Sparrow will be back tomorrow, I believe. Here is a summary of the afternoon’s main events: […]

Work and pensions secretary says benefit payment delays could have led to increaseFollow the latest political developments - live updatesAmber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary, has conceded that the rollout of universal credit has contributed to an increase in food bank use, going back on […]

Date: 12/26/2018General Press Release: USDA Announces Plan to Protect SNAP Participants' Access to SNAP in February – January 8, 2019  Child Nutrition Programs Includes National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Special Milk Program (SMP), Child and Adult […]

Almost four in 10 Britons offer their time free of charge, but many of them are stepping in where the state has failedAt first it sounded quite lovely, didn’t it? The notion of a “big society” – back in those heady days when David Cameron and Nick Clegg stood side by side in […]

Heidi Allen joins former Labour MP Frank Field on mission to highlight the poverty caused by her party’s policiesHeidi Allen and Frank Field make an odd partnership at first glance. Allen, 44, the Conservative MP for one of Britain’s richest constituencies, and Field, 76, a Labour MP […]

Poverty is rife in parts of Newcastle, but community initiatives combine cheap and healthy eating with self-respectTo look at, the self-styled Byker Pantry barely gives reason to stop. A short walk from Newcastle’s famous Byker Wall, its diminutive blue-shuttered front blends in with […]

Nearly 2 million Britons may be undernourished and one in five children are in food insecurity, committee toldMPs are urging the government to appoint a minister for hunger in the UK to tackle the growing problem of food insecurity, which is affecting one in five children.The Commons environmental […]