The number of applications for food stamps has almost reached a historic high. The state governments of Arizona, Oklahoma and Florida announced this week that they were no longer able to handle the flood of letters and calls about food stamps. Supermarkets in Kansas announced a severe shortage of the cheapest and most popular products. And several stores in various Texas suburbs reported that they have had hundreds of advance orders for Campbell’s soup, an inexpensive and well liked menu alternative for many struggling Americans that has been disappearing from their shelves.
“We are drastically changing our pricing policy and the assortment of products we have,” said Russell Mokogan, the owner of a small store in Albuquerque. “Last year only 30 percent of our clients used food stamps, while this year that number has grown to 95 percent. Cash and credit cards are a rarity for us.”
Life on food stamps is becoming the norm for millions of American families. Even though the American government allocates an astronomical amount of funds to issuing food stamps, the average low income person is not able to spend more than $4.34 a day on food.
“Over many years, the process for calculating food stamps has become complicated and is not always fair,” admitted Bruce Leland, who works at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). “Tens of thousands of families do not have enough food stamps to buy vitally important products. The elderly and children are starving.”
Maribel Diaz, a 36-year-old mother of three, has been forced to live on $319 a month. “This is not enough money because the price of the products is always rising. A gallon of milk costs almost $5 and a loaf of bread costs almost $3.”
In October 2008, the Food Stamp Program (FSP) was renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The motivation for this unexpected move was to raise the level of “prestige” for using food stamps.
“Millions of Americans used to be ashamed of the words ‘food stamps,’ but now they won’t even hear them,” explained Marilyn Broms, who works at the Salvation Army. “The goal of the new program is to provide tasty and healthy food to any American in need.”
In English, the word “nutrition” really does sound better than “food.” The first word implies “wholesome food,” while the second word can mean any kind of food. This trick is no more than an ingenious publicity stunt carried out by the Bush Administration while it was hastily sweeping up the remains of the economic collapse it created.
One of the points of the SNAP program reads: “A daily diet should include a full range of vitamins and minerals. Menus should include fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and meat.”
Such pronouncements are laughable for the millions of people on food stamps. “My husband, four children and I live on $838 a month,” said Monica Dayvaro of Nebraska. “It takes a lot of effort to feed six people on that kind of money. Our entire diet is made up of canned goods from Mexico and macaroni.”
Fifty-year-old Carolyn Delanchez of California conducted an experiment buying groceries with food stamps in different states. “However hard you try, you won’t be able to purchase healthy and wholesome food with food stamps. Food stamps are only enough for high-calorie food, which is why people have had to forget about their health.”
Over recent months, the number of people suffering from obesity and food poisoning in America has grown along with the number of people on food stamps. The main cause is the harmful food that unemployed Americans are forced to eat. You don’t have to look far for answers: at McDonald’s, $7 will get you either a medium sized salad or seven small sandwiches. The high-calorie sandwiches can be stretched out over an entire day, but the salad is only good for a modest lunch.
Meanwhile, food stamp recipients have become the main clients of the American-Mexican food industry.
“Five years ago we earned money selling organic pineapples for three dollars a jar. Now we produce canned beans for $.59 a jar,” said Alter Santos, a spokesperson for Goya. “We make money by turning over goods, so business is on the rise.”
Product trends show that the production of canned goods is increasing while the sale of fresh fruits and vegetables is gradually falling. Even potato vendors from Oklahoma are more likely to sell their product to local fast food outlets for processing and freezing than to transport it out of state.
“Storing fresh potatoes is a great risk for my small business,” admitted Brad Chastwick, a farmer. “During a crisis, I try to get rid of my harvest as soon as possible, which means selling everything right away.”
According to experts at the Food Channel, the production of products with long shelf lives could double between Jan. 2009 and Feb. 2011. “Real mashed potatoes and steak could become exotic foods by the end of this year,” said food expert Todd McGill. “Many restaurants have switched to canned food because they cannot justify the cost of organic food.”
The Organic Trade Association has already noted a sharp decline in consumer activity. Both restaurants and private stores are turning away from organic food. “Keeping a $30 chicken in the window is bad for business because there may not be any people who want to buy it,” said Gilbert Davidson, the owner of a butcher’s shop in New Jersey. “It’s safer to sell chicken legs at two dollars a pound. Or hermetically packaged chicken fillets for barbecuing that are good until 2015.”
The rise in food stamp recipients is having an effect on the most varied branches of the national economy. Private farms, which hardly make ends meet as it is, are suffering; thousands of restaurants and “fresh fish and meat” stores are closing; and butchers as well as mushroom and berry pickers are losing their jobs. About 1,500 people who place the identifying stickers on fruits and vegetables have already become unemployed.
Doctors are predicting many cases of food poisoning because corporations are allowing the sale of expired products that have been gathering dust in warehouses for years. In Minnesota last week a 75-year-old woman got food poisoning from a can of Campbell’s soup that had expired in 1988.
