USDA To Roll Out SNAP Pilot Program For Purchasing Groceries Online
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture will launch a pilot program this summer that will allow food stamp recipients to shop online for groceries. The program will be open to Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents.
The program is aimed at making it easier for people who use food stamps to buy nutritious food, which can be hard to get in inner cities and rural areas.
"Increased access is always a good thing," said Allen Glicksman with Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.
But Glicksman says census data shows that for low-income elders on food stamps, getting online can be as difficult as getting around.
"Sixty-one percent said that they do not have internet access," he said.
And even if they do have internet access, elders can face other barriers -- literacy, hearing, and vision problems, to name a few.
"We need to be sensitive to those, and to include technology along with other kinds of things," Glicksman said. "I always like the idea of adding technology. It concerns me when technology is treated as a panacea."