USDA Releases SNAP Error Rate Information

The USDA recently released 2022’s SNAP error rates, which averaged to 11.54% at the national level, which is about ~4% higher than the last report in 2019.  Agricultural leaders from both sides of the isle in the Senate and House have called on local administrators and governors to establish corrective actions and work with USDA officials to address the root causes of the SNAP errors.  When asked about the uptick in errors, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Stacy Dean blamed it on the influx of first-time users during the three year period (2019-2022) in the COVID-19 pandemic.  Dean explained how there was “general confusion relating to SNAP rules and application changes during the pandemic”, and promised the USDA is working with state and local officials to correct the root causes of the errors.  SNAP payments account for the largest expenditure of the Farm Bill, and significantly increased during COVID to $182.5 billion in 2021.