Food Stamp Program: Revisions to the Retail Food Store Definition and Program Authorization Guidance

This final rule implements provisions of the Food Stamp Program Improvements Act of 1994 to revise the criteria for eligibility of firms to participate in the Food Stamp Program as retail food stores, and to provide for notification to such firms of eligibility criteria for participation in the Food Stamp Program. The intended effect of this rule is to ensure that food stamp recipients continue to have adequate access to retail food stores where they can purchase a wide variety of nutritious food items, intended for home preparation and consumption, that meet their daily food needs, and to clarify procedures and eligibility requirements for authorizing firms to participate in the Food Stamp Program as retail food stores. This rule also reinserts part of a sentence inadvertently removed from the regulations by an earlier rule, and replaces references to the Secretary of Health and Human Services with references to the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. In addition, a technical, non-substantive correction is being made to three citations in this final rule.