US Agriculture Department Opposes Food Stamp Eligibility for Taco Bell, KFC

No fair! You can buy Cheetos and 'nutritionally-based products' with food stamps in the supermarket but you cant get a burrito or a bucket of wings?

Talk about repressing civil liberties and personal rights...JL

Mark Miller reports in Brand Channel:

Pretty much everybody is hurting for cash these days. And that has led to the U.S. government’s food-stamp program having a fresh influx of members.

In August, a new record was set of participants when it reached 45.8 million Americans, an increase of 8.1 percent form 2010. Way to go, America! In 2010, the program “distributed a record $64.4 billion,” according to Bloomberg. So there are plenty who’d like a piece of that pie
The United States Department of Agriculture runs the food-stamp program and folks there were apparently none too pleased when they heard the news that Yum! Brands Inc. was planning to let its KFC and Taco Bell franchises accept food stamps. Now, the USDA “is encouraging states not to give Yum a green light," Bloomberg reports.

“For us to be indifferent to the quality of the food is just a serious mistake,” Kevin Concannon, the Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, commented. “We should promote access to healthy foods.”

The states in question — Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Kentucky — have all seen lobbying efforts from Yum! to let the restaurants accept the stamps.

“Everybody wants to get a piece of that action,” commented Marion Nestle, a New York University professor of nutrition and public health. “Right now it’s going to grocery stores; restaurants think that’s not fair.”