Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program healthy eating incentives and fruit and vegetable spending across the month

Abstract

Abstract Objective: To estimate how incentives that encourage healthy eating among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants impact intra-monthly variation in fruit and vegetable spending. Design: We used transaction data from three Alabama grocery stores participating in a programme that offered dollar-matching coupons for fresh produce. For each store, we calculated daily spending on fresh produce out of SNAP benefits and daily incentive coupon redemptions. We compared total daily spending on fresh produce and daily coupon redemptions on days over which SNAP benefits are distributed in Alabama with spending and redemption on days at the end of the month with no SNAP distribution. Setting: SNAP and incentive transactions in three Alabama grocery stores. Participants: SNAP participants purchasing fruit and vegetables April 2023–July 2023. Results: Daily spending with SNAP on produce dropped by 38% at the end of the month. Incentive coupon redemption did not significantly drop at the end of the month. The share of total SNAP spending going to fresh fruits and vegetables increased by two percentage points and the share of fresh fruits and vegetables spending coming from redemptions increased by ten percentage points at the end of the month. Conclusions: SNAP households may use incentive coupons to smooth drops in produce consumption at the end of the month. These findings also highlight trade-offs inherent in different delivery mechanisms for SNAP incentives.

Keywords

• Supplemental Nutrition
• Assistance Program incentives
• SNAP cycle
• Produce expenditure
• Food assistance policy