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Trump Appointees Float New Rules for SNAP Retailers
- Bob Benenson
- 5 days ago
- 8 min read
What Could This Mean for America's Food Deserts? Learn from Expert Mari Gallagher
As Local Food Forum approaches its 5th anniversary, it continues to be a one-man operation. That's why I appreciate contributed content, especially when it comes from an established expert in the subject matter.
So I was very pleased when longtime acquaintance Mari Gallagher sent me the following essay about how healthy food access for the underprivileged might be affected by the Trump administration efforts — under the umbrella of promoting "real food" — to revise rules for retailers that accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for payment.
Mari — a social scientist and owner of Chicago's Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group — became nationally established as an expert in food insecurity 20 years ago with her statistics-driven report titled "Examining the Impact of Food Deserts on Public Health in Chicago." The report elevated discussion of the health impacts of lack of convenient access to nutritious food — and popularized the term "food deserts."
But there is also a personal reason why I'm so honored to publish Mari's first contributed article in Local Food Forum: She played a major role in my transition from my first career as a political journalist to my second as a full-time advocate for a better, healthier and fairer food system.
I had a chance meeting with Mari in 2011 (a few months after Barb and I moved to Chicago) at an exhibit opening at an art gallery owned by a mutual acquaintance. That's where I learned about her work on food deserts, which greatly interested me. Long story short, we stayed in touch, with Mari encouraging me in my small steps towards a new start.
I had been doing some freelance writing on politics after I came to Chicago. But I decided that dealing with politicians for 30 years was enough, and I became even more determined to convert my lifelong passion for food into a new career in the movement to build a better food system.
As a result, Mari in early 2012 introduced me to Jim Slama, founder and then-CEO of the nonprofit FamilyFarmed, for which Mari was then serving on the Board of Directors. This accelerated my transition into Good Food advocacy: I have worked with Jim in a variety of capacities, included my current "second job" role as communications coordinator for the Naturally Chicago nonprofit.
I share Mari's essay here with appreciation and gratitude.
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The Push for “Real Food” and Why SNAP Retailers Matter
by Mari Gallagher
A recent article in The Atlantic reports that “Eat Real Food” has become the new rallying cry for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and proponents of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins also appears to be enthusiastically waving the Real Food Flag.
This could mean changes to SNAP retailer rules.
At first glance, this sounds promising. But from our vantage point, there’s an uncomfortable truth: Many SNAP-authorized stores do not sell much, if any, “real food” as defined by these guidelines. This has long been a defining problem in food deserts, where families lack access to quality grocery options.
If this new focus results in meaningful changes to SNAP retailer rules, it could be transformative. But if it doesn’t, we risk repeating the same mistakes we have made before under the harmful pretense of positive change.
Would New SNAP Rules Improve Healthy Food Access?
That depends. Early descriptions of the proposed standards emphasize requiring seven varieties of food access across four categories: protein, dairy, grains, and vegetables and fruits.
As the Center for Science in the Public Interest has already warned, this could easily result in stores meeting requirements by stocking sugary cereal such as Fruity Pebbles for grains and canned peaches in syrup for fruit.
That’s not progress. Those shelf-stable, low-nutrient options already dominate food desert retail landscapes.
Our Old but Still Relevant Open Letter to the White House
Fifteen years ago, we raised this issue in an Open Letter to the White House, pointing out two fundamental problems that persist today: SNAP retailer standards are too low, and compliance with even those low standards is weak.
This was never a failure of the USDA career staff. Real reform requires bipartisan congressional action and adequate funding. Without that, meaningful enforcement remains out of reach.
What Rule Changes Could Mean to Public Health
Our call to action in the Open Letter was grounded in quality data, content knowledge, and field inspections. In a 2006 study, we popularized the term food desert and demonstrated how the lack of geographic access to a quality grocer negatively impacts diet-related health.
These negative impacts are not only due to the absence of good grocers but also the high concentration of other SNAP retailers that sell mostly unhealthy snack foods. In a rural county in Iowa, children living near these unhealthy SNAP stores experienced lower grades, shorter stature and higher rates of diabetes among parents, even after controlling for race, household income, and other factors.
What We See During Food Desert SNAP Store Inspections
Most people think food deserts lack stores. In reality, they are often packed with other SNAP retailers: gas stations, mini-marts, dollar stores, liquor stores, and convenience stores. They mostly specialize in cigarettes, cold beer and cheap junk food.
During inspections, we routinely find spoiled products, broken refrigeration units, and blatant non-compliance. I have personally visited SNAP-authorized locations such as:
Road stands selling only fried peanuts
Laundromats with a single folding table of snacks
Seafood restaurants claiming fried fish could be purchased as grocery items
Liquor stores offering minimal food alongside slot machines where gamblers were smoking
It is heartbreaking to see families searching for healthy food in these conditions.
The Myth of SNAP Recipient Fraud
In decades of work, we have never encountered evidence of widespread SNAP recipient fraud, even when hired specifically to look for it.
Retailer fraud, on the other hand, is impossible to miss. The major problem is retailers exploiting the program while failing to meet minimal standards, not families misusing benefits. These inadequate standards fail to support nutritionally vulnerable families, and without enforcement, taxpayer dollars support low-quality stores rather than healthy food access.
Coding the “Bad Apple” SNAP Stores
To better understand how different retailers affect food deserts, we developed a system to classify SNAP-authorized stores as mainstream, neutral, or fringe. This distinguishes stores that offer a meaningful selection of healthy food and those that do not.
This system forms the basis for our block-level Food Balance Score and hyper-local Meal Deficit Metric, which factors in access to groceries from all sources, including earned income, government programs, food banks, and friends and family.
Our work has been featured in documentaries including Bridging the Health Divide and in a TEDx presentation, where we show real-world examples of “bad apple” stores.
A High Concentration of “Bad Apples” Poisons Local Markets and Hurts Good Grocers
It’s important to note that many SNAP-authorized retailers are excellent grocers, offering high-quality, nutritious food and programs that help consumers make healthy, affordable choices.
But fringe SNAP retailers, the “bad apples”, specialize in unhealthy, ultra-processed foods. In these stores, families cannot consistently access food that supports a healthy diet.
When fringe stores cluster in a neighborhood, they collectively capture a large share of food sales in an industry with razor-thin margins. Even if they technically meet SNAP standards, they do so with minimal real food, undermining SNAP’s role as the first line of defense against malnutrition.
Fringe stores reduce costs through deferred maintenance, low-paid part-time staff, poor product display, and inferior shelf-stable foods. This gives them a competitive advantage over mainstream grocers.
Over time, this creates a negative commercial environment that deters quality grocers from entering or expanding in the market. Retail attracts retail, and like attracts like, in either a positive or negative direction. The greater the concentration of fringe stores, the more the market tilts away from healthy, viable grocery options. This is a body of work we developed called the Snowball Effect.
We recently witnessed this in a small town in a rural county in Ohio. Food deserts are not only urban; rural communities face the same challenges. Restoring access to quality grocery options is critical to healthy diets and community revitalization.
Would Stronger SNAP Enforcement Reduce Food Access?
Some advocates worry that removing non-complying SNAP retailers could leave vulnerable residents without any nearby food shopping options. In a limited number of cases, this could happen in the short term.
But there is significant money in the SNAP program. Most retailers, if required to comply, will. If a gap in the market remains, other retailers are likely to step in to capture that demand. In the meantime, some residents may need to find new ways to reach compliant food stores, ideally ones offering healthier products.
That shift may feel inconvenient at first, but it is likely better in the long run. Food deserts are saturated with relatively cheap junk food, but that does not mean the food is affordable. Convenience often comes with higher prices at the cash register, and over time, the cost is paid in diminished health and shortened lives.
Without meaningful SNAP compliance and enforcement, the question becomes unavoidable: Why have rules at all?
Moving Forward with New SNAP Retailer Rules
Improving SNAP retailer standards and enforcement could strengthen public health, stabilize local economies, and make grocery investment viable.
Reforms must be evidence-based and collaborative. They should:
Draw on insights from practitioners and organizations addressing food insecurity
Resist political knee-jerk reactions and special-interest compromises
Focus on meaningful, enforceable standards that expand access to real food
Monitor retailer program compliance; perhaps local health departments can assist, as many program violations also concern public health and safety
We all eat as part of human condition. During this turbulent time in America, perhaps we can find calm and unity under the pursuit of healthy food access. Many experts across the political spectrum have deep content knowledge and have long been committed to making the healthy choice an easy choice. These issues are not new to them. Real food requires Real Leadership and genuine collaboration “across the aisle”
We should do all this and more because there is a lot at stake.
We are what we eat, a fact with profound implications for health, opportunity, and economic resilience. This moment presents a chance to do better if we are willing to confront uncomfortable truths, be our best selves, and commit to meaningful change.
Turning Evidence Into Action
As SNAP retailer rules are reviewed, reform must be grounded in evidence and real-world experience. Explore our research or connect with us to see how hyper-local data, fieldwork, and customized programs and strategies can support healthy food, healthy people, and healthy economies.
About Mari Gallagher
Mari Gallagher, founder and principal of Mari Gallagher Research & Consulting Group, is a nationally recognized expert in food access, grocery market analysis, hyperlocal data modelling, and community health impacts. She popularized the term “food desert,” helped motivate billions in investment into underserved areas, and continues to shape public policy and on-the-ground programs nationwide. Mari is a market maverick with community development experience in housing and retail, including the development of a 75-million-dollar shopping center anchored by a mainstream grocery store in a previously underserved area.