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Our partner and friend at the federal level, NGA, is working on a multi pronged approach to allow independents to accept healthy benefit cards funded by insurance companies.
Raise your voice in sharing how this issue is impacting your business and the individuals in you communities. This letter will be sent to the healthy benefit card stakeholders including health insurance companies, payment processors, and point-of-sale system providers. Additionally, NGA continues to work with the White House and Congress to try to find a solution to this problem as soon as possible. Assist in this fight and please sign on to the letter below.
Click here to sign now.
The Missouri Grocers Association offers a huge congratulations to the Balls Food Stores family on 100 years of service to their local communities and dedication to the grocery industry! Balls Food Stores has been serving Kansas City, Kansas, for 100 years and will host special anniversary events throughout the year to mark the occasion.
Join BUY MO with the BUY MO Day at the Capitol on April 19th!
The USDA Food and Nutrition Service is trialing contactless SNAP payments in Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri and Oklahoma that will allow users to pay via their mobile devices as opposed to using their physical SNAP cards. "We want to ensure SNAP leverages the latest technology to improve access to benefits, reduce fraud, and provide a better overall experience for the families we serve," said Stacy Dean, USDA deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services. Full Story: Progressive Grocer
The Double Up Food Bucks program enables SNAP recipients to double every dollar spent on fruits and vegetables. It is available in 25 states, but the new e-commerce app, built on the e-commerce platform Shopify, is the first tech solution that grocers can use to accommodate the program, according to a Grocerist press release Friday. Read more here.
On Wednesday, February 22nd, the MGA joined our members in celebrating Supermarket Employee Day and honoring employees across the state of Missouri for their hard work and dedication to their customers and communities.
To help the MGA celebrate employees throughout Missouri, members of the Missouri House of Representatives presented resolutions to grocery stores in the local communities throughout their districts. Over 280 resolutions were presented to grocery stores across the state of Missouri!
Supermarket Employee Day is a time for the food industry to recognize employees at every level for the work they do feeding families and enriching lives.
It can be simple to acknowledge and celebrate your employees for their hard work.
Click here to view Proclamation
Kraft Heinz's fourth-quarter net dollar sales grew 10%, and the company projects 2023's organic sales to increase 4% to 6% year over year with no additional pricing action planned for North America, Europe, Latin America and much of Asia this year, said CEO Miguel Patricio.
Full Story: The Wall Street Journal
Existing regulations from USDA-FSIS require that all facilities that grind beef maintain records regarding the source materials. Records must also indicate cleaning and sanitation practices. Although this rule has been around for more than seven years, FSIS still finds retailers that are not aware of the requirements or that have not implemented them correctly. Learn more here.
As a result of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, there will be a new Summer EBT program, along with changes to SNAP benefits.. The SNAP emergency allotments (EAs) will end nationwide after the February 2023 benefit month, though in Missouri SNAP emergency allotment ended December 31, 2022. That means in March 2023, SNAP benefit amounts will be returning to normal for all SNAP households. Under the new guidance, states are not allowed to issue EA benefits for a phase-out month after benefit month February 2023, which was in previous guidance when EAs were to end after the public health emergency expires. This will be an impactful change for many SNAP households in those states still issuing EAs that will see their benefits dropping by $95 or more in some cases. Please read the SNAP benefit Changes 2023 FAQs for more information about the changes, which includes both SNAP and Social Security benefit changes.
Guidance for the Summer EBT for Children (SEBTC) program, which will be a permanent, nationwide program, is still under development. FMI is reaching out to USDA to learn more information about when the program will start, if states will have to apply or if the benefits will be automatic and eligibility guidelines for children. USDA has repurposed a landing page for the SEBTC program which currently contains information from the 2018/2019 demonstration pilots, however it appears that this is where the new program information will be posted when available. Once we have additional clarity on this program, we will send out the information.
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The Missouri Grocers Association | 315 N Ken Ave, Springfield, MO 65802 | Phone: 417-831-6667 | Fax: 417-831-3907
