1. 2016

   ERS studies the relationship among the many factors that influence food choices and health outcomes. At the household level, research focuses on food price trends, income, and individual characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity, household structure, knowledge of diet and health, and nutrition education. At the industry level, research focuses on the interaction among firms, consumers, and government programs and policies. Children’s food access, food security, and child and adult obesity continue to be important foci of the ERS research program. ERS research related to adult and child obesity includes approaches taken from behavioral economics to investigate how psychological mechanisms related to food choices might contribute to poor dietary quality and obesity.

   Through its food assistance and nutrition research and by working closely with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, ERS studies and analyzes the Nation’s nutrition assistance programs. These programs receive substantial Federal funding and affect the daily lives of millions of America’s children. Long-term research themes include dietary and nutritional outcomes, food program targeting and delivery, and program dynamics and administration. ERS research is designed to meet the critical information needs of USDA, Congress, program managers, policy officials, the research community, and the public at large.

   ERS food safety research focuses on enhancing methodologies for valuing societal benefits associated with reducing food safety risks, understanding consumer response to food safety incidents, assessing industry incentives to enhance food safety through new technologies and supply chain linkages, and evaluating regulatory options and change. ERS research also investigates the safety of food imports and the efficacy of international food safety policies and practices.

   ERS research on food choices and health outcomes showed the following:

   • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants are less likely to drive their own car to do their primary food shopping and more likely to get rides from someone else or take public transit. However, these differences in transportation mode do not translate into differences in the types of stores used for grocery shopping among SNAP households. The National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) is the first survey to collect unique and comprehensive data about food purchases and acquisitions for a nationally representative sample of U.S. households. In March 2015, ERS published a report that compared shopping patterns of SNAP households to low- and higher income nonparticipant households and found that many households bypass the store that is closest to them to shop at another store. For example, among SNAP households, the nearest store was, on average, 2.0 miles from the household, but the store primarily used for grocery shopping was, on average, 3.4 miles from the household. Multiple intramural and extramural research projects are underway using FoodAPS with reports focusing on general food expenditures and WIC participant shopping behavior planned for release in 2016.

   • An estimated 86 percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2014, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 5.6 percent with very low food security because the household lacked money and other resources for food, resulting in reduced food intake and disruptions in eating patterns for one or more household members. Additional research focused specifically on children shows that an estimated 90.6 percent of households with children were food secure throughout the year in 2011, which denotes that all household members had consistent access to adequate food for active, healthy lives. The ERS food security statistics are widely recognized as the benchmark for measuring food security in the U.S., and support decision making on USDA food assistance and nutrition programs.

   • Following Dietary Guidance need not cost more, but many Americans would need to re-allocate their food budgets to do so. Behavioral changes can improve diet quality, but major improvements would require Americans to change how they allocate their food budgets across food groups. Most Americans across all income levels consume poor diets. Behavior changes, such as preparing food at home instead of eating out, are associated with improvements in diet quality. To realize the much larger improvements in diet quality required to meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, ERS research found that many Americans would need to reallocate their food budgets, spending a larger share on fruits and vegetables and a lower share on protein foods and foods high in solid fats, added sugars, and sodium. Briefings on this topic to senior USDA and other policy officials informed discussions of the upcoming release of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines.

   • An estimated 1,249 calories per capita per day are lost from the food supply. ERS published the latest estimates on the amount and value of food loss in the United States. These estimates are for more than 200 individual foods using ERS’s Loss-Adjusted Food Availability data. In 2010, an estimated 31 percent, or 133 billion pounds, of the 430 billion pounds of food produced was not available for human consumption at the retail and consumer levels. This amount of loss totaled an estimated $161.6 billion, as purchased at retail prices. For the first time, ERS estimates of the calories associated with food loss are presented in this report. The top three food groups in terms of the share of the total value of food loss at the retail and consumer levels are meat, poultry, and fish (30 percent), vegetables (19 percent), and dairy products (17 percent). Food loss data from ERS is used to support USDA’s Food Waste Challenge initiative and also provides a model for other countries’ efforts to estimate food loss.

   • Households living in low-income, low food-access areas have only slightly lower diet quality than other households and this difference is partially alleviated when these consumers travel farther from their homes to purchase food. About 10 percent of the U.S. population lives in low-income areas more than 1 mile from the nearest supermarket. The diet quality of these consumers may be compromised by their food environment. Some may be unable to reach supermarkets regularly or without effort, instead buying food from closer stores that offer less healthy food products. ERS investigated the correlation between households that live in low-income, low-access areas and their purchases of 14 major food groups that vary in dietary quality using supermarket scanner data. Briefings on this topic to senior USDA and other policy officials informed discussions of continuing efforts to improve food access for low-income households across the U.S.

   ERS research on USDA’s food and nutrition assistance programs found the following: • ERS linked 2008-12 SNAP administrative records to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) on the use of SNAP and other public assistance programs to provide better information on SNAP receipt than that which would be estimated by the ACS alone. SNAP provides food and nutrition benefits to low-income households based on a formula that adjusts the benefit amount a household receives based on monthly need. ERS assessed the extent to which SNAP reaches the poorest households, also known as benefit targeting, by estimating benefit receipt by annual household income relative to poverty. Estimates of SNAP targeting toward low-income households improve when using either of two measures of intensity of SNAP participation relative to measures of ever-in-the-year participation. Replacing survey-based data on SNAP benefit receipt with administrative records of SNAP benefit receipt and adjusting the survey households to more closely reflect administrative SNAP units also improves estimates of targeting to low-income participants. Briefings to senior official at FNCS and FNS informed decision makers about the effect of more expansive data on participation measures.

   • School meal programs are adjusting to stronger nutritional standards, but face challenges in maintaining paid lunch participation to meet revenue goals. School foodservice programs face ongoing tradeoffs between meal cost, student participation, and nutrition quality. Changes mandated by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 strengthened nutritional standards for meals and competitive foods and set minimum levels for paid meal revenues, while new options allow more schools to offer free meals to all students at reduced administrative burden. An ERS review of recent research results and new data on school lunch participation rates suggests that while many school districts have adjusted to new standards, maintaining paid meal participation remains most challenging for smaller and more rural districts. Briefings to senior USDA officials on this topic have informed USDA efforts to help States meet the challenges related to improving nutrition within allotted budgets.

   ERS research on the safety of the nation’s food supply found the following: • Cost estimates of foodborne illnesses data provide Federal agencies with consistent, peer-reviewed estimates of the costs of foodborne illness that can be used in analyzing the impact of Federal regulations. ERS’s Cost of Foodborne Illness data product, produced in collaboration with the Food Safety and Inspection Service, provides detailed data about the costs of major foodborne illnesses in the United States, including identification of specific disease outcomes for foodborne infections caused by 15 major pathogens in the United States, associated outpatient and inpatient expenditures on medical care, associated lost wages, and estimates of individuals’ willingness to pay to reduce mortality resulting from these foodborne illnesses. It also provides stakeholders and the general public with a means of understanding the relative impact of different foodborne infections in the United States. Cost estimates of foodborne illnesses have been used to help inform food-safety policy discussions, and these updated cost estimates provide a foundation for economic analysis of food safety policy.

   • New surveys on food safety practices. ERS launched an initiative to collect primary data on current food safety practices for produce growers and post-harvest firms to provide a baseline of compliance costs prior to the full implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The surveys will be completed by NASS in January 2016, and ERS will use the data in estimating the potential economic impacts of FSMA provisions on the fresh produce and animal feed sectors.

   • Consumers respond differently to foodborne disease outbreaks of different severities. A case study of pathogen-related recalls of cantaloupe in 2011 and 2012 suggests consumers’ food purchase responses take into account the relative risk severity of specific pathogens. Information from news media apparently plays a role. Federal health and safety officials warned consumers away from cantaloupes in 2011 and again in 2012. The warnings occurred under similar market conditions but were for contamination by two different foodborne microorganisms that posed entirely different health risks. After consumers were informed about the risk with the higher fatality rate, the demand for cantaloupes fell and consumers substituted other melons. No such shifts in demand were evident under the lower fatality risk, despite more illnesses attributed to it.

   • Establishments that bid on contracts to supply the USDA’s National School Lunch Program had relatively higher levels of food safety, as measured by fewer samples of meat testing positive for Salmonella, than other establishments supplying ground beef to the commercial market. In December of 2014, ERS published a report that examined the food safety performance of suppliers of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and found evidence of strategic behavior in which managers use information about their establishment’s past food safety performance to decide whether to bid on contracts to supply the NSLP. Research results from this report were presented at multiple briefings to senior USDA officials.

2. 2017

   ERS studies the relationship among the many factors that influence food choices and health outcomes. At the household level, research focuses on food price trends, income, and individual characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity, household structure, knowledge of diet and health, and nutrition education. At the industry level, research focuses on the interaction among firms, consumers, and government programs and policies. Children’s food access, food security, and child and adult obesity continue to be important foci of the ERS research program. ERS research related to adult and child obesity includes approaches taken from behavioral economics to investigate how psychological mechanisms related to food choices might contribute to poor dietary quality and obesity.

   Through its food assistance and nutrition research and by working closely with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, ERS studies and analyzes the Nation’s nutrition assistance programs. These programs receive substantial Federal funding and affect the daily lives of millions of America’s children. Long-term research themes include dietary and nutritional outcomes, food program targeting and delivery, and measurement of program participation. ERS research is designed to meet the critical information needs of USDA, Congress, program managers, policy officials, the research community, and the public at large.

   ERS food safety research focuses on enhancing methodologies for valuing societal benefits associated with reducing food safety risks, understanding consumer response to food safety incidents, assessing industry incentives to enhance food safety through new technologies and supply chain linkages, and evaluating regulatory options and change. ERS research also investigates the safety of food imports and the efficacy of international food safety policies and practices.

3. 2018

   ERS studies the relationship among the many factors that influence food choices and health outcomes. At the household level, research focuses on food price trends, income, and individual characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity, household structure, knowledge of diet and health, and nutrition education. At the industry level, research focuses on the interaction among firms, consumers, and government programs and policies. Children’s food access, food security, and child and adult obesity continue to be important foci of the ERS research program. ERS research related to adult and child obesity includes approaches taken from behavioral economics to investigate how psychological mechanisms related to food choices might contribute to poor dietary quality and obesity.

   Through its food assistance and nutrition research and by working closely with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, ERS studies and analyzes the Nation’s nutrition assistance programs. These programs receive substantial Federal funding and affect the daily lives of millions of America’s children. Long-term research themes include dietary and nutritional outcomes, food program targeting and delivery, and measurement of program participation. ERS research is designed to meet the critical information needs of USDA, Congress, program managers, policy officials, the research community, and the public at large.

   ERS food safety research focuses on enhancing methodologies for valuing societal benefits associated with reducing food safety risks, understanding consumer response to food safety incidents, assessing industry incentives to enhance food safety through new technologies and supply chain linkages, and evaluating regulatory options and change. ERS research also investigates the safety of food imports and the efficacy of international food safety policies and practices.

4. 2020

   An estimated 88.9 percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2018, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (11.1 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 4.3 percent with very low food security because the household lacked money and other resources for food, resulting in reduced food intake and disruptions in eating patterns for one or more household members. The 2018 prevalence of food insecurity declined, for the first time, to the pre-recession (2007) level of 11.1 percent. The decline in overall food security between 2017 and 2018 was statistically significant. The decline in rate of very low food security from 4.5 percent in 2017 to 4.3 percent in 2018 was not statistically significant. Children and adults were food insecure in 7.1 percent of U.S. households with children in 2018, versus 7.7 percent in 2017. The ERS food security statistics are widely recognized as the benchmark for measuring food security in the U.S., and support decision making on USDA food and nutrition assistance programs. The authors briefed senior USDA officials on the report’s findings and presented a webinar to field press inquiries and related interest that the report generated.

   SNAP benefits spent during an economic downturn provide income to the businesses where those benefits are spent, as well as to their employees and suppliers, whose spending further stimulates the economy. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is one of the largest assistance programs in the United States—the U.S. Department of Agriculture spent $65.3 billion on the program in fiscal year 2018 and served an average of 40.3 million people per month. ERS researchers estimated the multiplier effects of SNAP using a newly compiled Social Accounting Matrix multiplier model and the most recent data available. The study estimated that $1 billion in SNAP benefit outlays generates $1.5 billion in gross domestic product, which supports 13,560 new jobs—including $32 million added income going to agricultural industries that support 480 agricultural jobs.

   Higher levels of breastfeeding would raise WIC program costs, but reduce current and future health-related costs for mothers and infants participating in WIC. ERS researchers examined the effects of a hypothetical increase in breastfeeding rates among WIC participants from their 2016 levels to medically recommended levels: 90 percent of infants are exclusively breastfed for their first 6 months, followed by continued breastfeeding with the addition of complementary foods—but not infant formula—for the next 6 months. Results indicate that the number of mothers who participated in WIC that year would have increased by an estimated 646,000 per month (an 8-percent increase). WIC program costs would have risen by an estimated $252.4 million, or 4.2 percent of total costs in 2016. As a result of health benefits associated with breastfeeding, Federal Medicaid costs would have decreased by at least $111.6 million, resulting in an estimated increase of $140.9 million in combined Federal WIC and Medicaid costs. Health-related cost savings that accrue to WIC households or their health insurance providers would have totaled $9.0 billion (excluding the savings that accrue to the Federal portion of Medicaid).

   Nutrition information on restaurant menus may help some consumers meet their calorie targets. ERS researchers examined survey data on restaurant menu label use and calorie intakes among U.S. adults age 20 and older who reported seeing nutrition information on a menu the last time they visited a fast-food or sit-down restaurant. Survey respondents who reported seeing and using restaurant menu labels consumed significantly fewer calories per day than did respondents who reported seeing the labels, but not using them. The relationship between menu label use and caloric intake was similar for both fast-food and sit-down restaurants and was statistically significant in both cases.

5. 2024

   A report was issued that measured the differences in local food access due to SNAP authorized stores and nontraditional food retailers.

Single Audit Applies (2 CFR Part 200 Subpart F):

For additional information on single audit requirements for this program, review the current Compliance Supplement.

1. 7 U.S.C. § 3318(b).
2. 7 U.S.C. § 3318(c).