WASHINGTON – Yesterday, the comment period closed on the proposed rule that alters retailer requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). More than 1,200 number of comments were filed on regulations.gov, including comments from many convenience store retailers and comments from NACS.

In more than 21 pages of comments, NACS calls on the Food & Nutrition Service (FNS) to withdraw its proposed rule so that convenience stores can continue playing an integral role in SNAP by providing access to food to low-income Americans who need it most.

NACS determines, “The proposed rule goes well beyond what the Farm Bill required or envisioned, [and] FNS has acted outside of the scope of its authority.” By changing the underlying definition of “staple food” to exclude multiple ingredient items and snack foods that are eaten between meals, FNS narrows the universe of what retailers can count toward their stocking requirements. The proposal disqualifies many popular, nutrient-rich foods such as canned soups, frozen dinners and on-the-go snack packs. It would also require a retailer to stock 6 facing units of each of the 28 varieties of foods required in the Farm Bill, meaning a SNAP retailer will have to stock 168 single ingredient items on shelves at all times. The proposed rule fails to account for “the logistical realities relating to how small retailers are supplied,” NACS emphasizes in its comments.

NACS also criticizes FNS’s redefinition of “retail food store,” which would render a convenience store ineligible to be a SNAP retailer if 15% or more of its total food sales come from foods that are cooked or heated on site. It would also count the sales of a separate entity, like a Subway franchise, toward that threshold if it operates under a store’s roof. NACS states, “There is no justification for penalizing stores that sell hot, prepared foods to non-SNAP customers if those stores meet the other relevant eligibility requirements.”

The NACS comments are one of over 1,200 filed, including comments by the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy. With its proposed rule, FNS issued an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA), which is required by law to accompany a proposed rule to demonstrate that a rule will not cause undue harm to small businesses. The Small Business Administration (SBA) finds that, “FNS’s conclusion that the rule’s impact on small authorized SNAP retailers will amount to $140 is underestimated.” Citing concerns from convenience stores and other small businesses, the SBA letter criticizes FNS’s analysis and methodology, and ultimately calls on the agency to improve its rule and its regulatory flexibility analysis in order to minimize the impact to small businesses.

This issue continues to garner strong bipartisan support in Congress. Earlier this week, 161 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) expressing concerns with the proposed rule. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX) and Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-MN) spearheaded the letter, which states, “The proposal contains several provisions that restrict the ability of small format retailers to participate in SNAP and in turn jeopardize access to food for the more than 45 million low income SNAP beneficiaries, including more than 20 million children.”

FNS will now review all comments received and revise their proposal before issuing a final regulation. Stay tuned for more updates on this process.