WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Representative Jill Tokuda commended the announcement from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service to collect information on food price data for the State of Hawaiʻi as a whole. Tokuda led Members of the Hawaiʻi Congressional Delegation in highlighting the significant disparity between the cost of food on O‘ahu and in rural communities on the neighbor islands in Hawai‘i. The USDA currently uses food cost data from the City and County of Honolulu and does not account for the higher cost of food for those living in the other counties when evaluating the Thrifty Food Plan, which determines the maximum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP ) benefit, for the state.
Rep. Tokuda introduced legislation in July to separate the Thrifty Food Plan study in Hawai‘i between urban and rural communities, which would better account for the cost of local food and help more families in Hawai‘i afford healthy and nutritious food.
“I am pleased that the USDA recognizes the gross miscalculation that has been occurring in only considering food costs in Honolulu,” said Rep. Jill Tokuda. “It has been unacceptable to me that SNAP benefits for Hawaiʻi have been calculated in a way that ignores every island other than O‘ahu which is contributing to a reduction of SNAP benefits for Hawai‘i families. When I fly throughout my district, I walk through grocery store aisles and see the higher prices and often empty shelves. Our ʻohana in the Second Congressional District deserve better, and I encourage the local food industry and research community to participate in the USDA’s Request for Information and submit comments on the price of food across our state.”
The public can submit comments to the USDA online through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov; follow the online instructions for submitting comments electronically. Comments may also be submitted via email to fns.foodplans@usda.gov or mailed to: Kevin Meyers Mathieu, Economic Advisor, Nutrition Guidance and Analysis Division, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1320 Braddock Place, Fourth Floor, Alexandria, VA 22314. All comments received in response to this notice will be a matter of public record.
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