April 17, 2012

In class we had a speaker, Nick Claussen from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. He talked about many different statistics of those who are food insecure. He explained that the program is designed to not to provide enough food for the family for the entire month. This program is a government program to help those who do not have a healthy intake of nutrition due to lack of resources. The state government sponsor's the program and monitors the use of the cards and catches any errors  in the screening process. The purpose of SNAP is to help individuals who do not get enough nutritionally sound foods into their diets. This is a crucial part to these people, because the impoverished are more likely to get sick, etc . so they need these types of foods. The role of the nutrition professional is mostly education to the recipients of the benefits. This will help them make the best decisions when going  to use their SNAP cards at the store or the farmers market. The farmers market should really be pushed by professionals because they are so fresh and nutritious and will give them the best benefits.