Effects of SNAP Participation on the Healthfulness of Foods Purchased by Households with Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Start Date: July 2022

ID #: 283-5100

Principal Investigator: Mary Muth, BS, MS, PhD

Organization: Research Triangle Institute

Funding Round: 2021 Special Solicitation on COVID-19 and Socioeconomic Recovery Efforts

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Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act of March 2020, changes were made to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (including emergency allotments, meal replacement benefits during school closures for children, and SNAP operation waivers), which could have had a protective effect on nutritional quality of SNAP households’ food purchases. Specific aims are to (1) compare monthly changes in absolute measures of nutritional quality of foods purchased by households with children in 2019 and 2020 across SNAP and similar non-SNAP households by race and ethnicity, (2) estimate regression models to identify causal associations between changes in SNAP during the pandemic on nutritional quality of food purchases between SNAP and similar non-SNAP households, and (3) assess differences in demographic characteristics and food expenditures of households that participated in SNAP in 2019 vs. 2020.

Start Date: 6/15/2022

Keywords: COVID-19, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Resource Type: Grant Summary

Focus Area: Nutrition Policy & Programs

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