Does food retail access moderate the impact of fruit and vegetable incentives for SNAP participants?

Introduction: There is strong evidence that providing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants with subsidies that lower the cost of fruits and vegetables leads to an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption. However, SNAP participants with low access to healthy food retailers may be unable to take advantage of these subsidies. This study investigates whether the response of SNAP participants to a fruit and vegetable price incentive differed depending on household access to food retailers.

Methods: The analysis exploits the random assignment of households to the incentive. Regression models for the impact of the incentive are augmented with measures of food retail access and interactions of random assignment status with distance to supermarkets. The main outcome—use of the SNAP benefit—is based on Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card transaction records.

Results: Although households that lived within a mile of a participating supermarket spent approximately $2.13 more on targeted fruits and vegetables at participating supermarkets than households that did not live within a mile of a participating supermarket, we found no evidence of an interaction between distance to retailers and the incentive’s impact on patterns of SNAP spending on fruits and vegetables.

Discussion: These findings imply that incentives to purchase fruits and vegetables were equally efficacious for SNAP households with high and low access to food retailers.