NACS strongly supports the Hot Foods Act (H.R. 3519/S. 2258). With 150,000 convenience stores across the country, convenience stores serve their communities as critical access points for low-income Americans to access food, particularly given that 93% of the population lives within 10 minutes of a convenience store, and 86% of rural Americans live within 10 minutes of a convenience store.
Allowing hot food purchases would also simplify the administration for stores that already accept SNAP benefits. Today, a working mom can use SNAP benefits to buy a cold sandwich, but if the bread is toasted or the sandwich is put in a panini press, she cannot purchase that same sandwich with her SNAP dollars. This is confusing for participants and puts an unnecessary burden on the store associates.
Removing the hot food restriction for SNAP-eligible retail stores would give low-income Americans commonsense flexibility when it comes to feeding themselves and their families, and it will help stores more easily comply with program requirements.
Please contact your Members of Congress today and ask that they co-sponsor the Hot Foods Act and support removing the hot food restriction in SNAP.