SNAP and Food Security
Nutrition Assistance Benefits and Hunger Reduction
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides nutrition assistance benefits to low- income individuals and families in an effort to reduce hunger and improve the health and well-being of low-income people nationwide. Although SNAP has long been one of the largest and most important nutrition assistance programs for low-income households, its significance has grown even larger in recent years as it experienced recordhigh levels of participation. In Fiscal Year 2012, the program provided benefits to more than 46 million Americans on average per month. The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers…
