Credit Card Swipe Fees Back In The News
A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers have sent a formal letter to Visa and Mastercard demanding that the two powerhouses within the credit card industry reverse their decision to increase credit card fees that are slated to begin this month. If the new fee schedule goes into effect, retailers and restaurants are expected to pay an extra half billion dollars annually to accept shopper’s credit cards. At press time, Visa and Mastercard had not replied to the letter. The letter also pointed out the new Credit Card Competition Act that I mentioned in my last month’s commentary that would rein in credit card “swipe fees” by creating more competition. As expected, the bill is strongly opposed by the banking industry but supported by retailers and restaurants.
The bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act was introduced this past June and if enacted, the retail industry says that the result would be $15 billion in annual savings. Congressional action is expected by the end of this year. Stay tuned for more updates.
SNAP Quality Control Proposed Rule
Food retailers are often caught in the crossfire when issues arise between Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients and state eligibility and benefit requirements. To throw some clarity into the mix, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has published a new proposed rule on SNAP’s quality control system that is a tool to be used for measuring how accurately SNAP state agencies determine a household’s eligibility and benefit amounts. The proposed rule aims to increase state agency efficiency, reduce the amount of time that state staff spend verifying household circumstances, and improve the quality and timeliness of the SNAP payment accuracy data. All of this should be a relief for food retailers.
Of major importance in the proposed rule is mandating the use of the federal quality control technology platform and eliminating redundant state systems. The rule is one of many steps that USDA is taking to ensure SNAP provides all program participants with a modern, accessible and equitable experience, while protecting the integrity of the program and the stewardship of taxpayer dollars. The comment period for the proposed rule closes on November 20, 2023. For more information, go to USDA.gov and search for Food and Nutrition Service/SNAP.
WIC Gets Streamlined Too
Another popular benefit program is the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program. Last month FNS awarded a cooperative agreement of $10 million to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in support of ongoing efforts to modernize and enhance the WIC program. The goal is to help all eligible mothers and children access the program to afford more healthy food.
The Bloomberg School will provide financial, technical and evaluation support to WIC state agencies to streamline access to WIC through outreach and data matching with other federal food insecurity programs. The recent announcement is part of USDA’s broader plan to modernize, strengthen, and expand the reach of WIC to improve health outcomes for moms, babies, and young children.
Agricultural Outlook Forum
In my prior career when I was an officer and vice president at Giant Food, I often attended USDA’s annual Outlook Forum with other retail public affairs and consumer affairs food industry representatives. To say it was informative and helpful is an understatement as there was always so much information that one could gleam from attending the Outlook Forums. The upcoming 2024 forum will be special as it is USDA’s 100th Annual Agricultural Outlook Forum and will be entitled “Cultivating the Future.” The forum is scheduled to take place on February 15-16, 2024, at the Crystal City Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA.
The Outlook Forum is USDA’s longest running and largest public event and aims to help our industry’s stakeholders and others understand and plan for the opportunities and challenges facing the agricultural sector. Each year it attracts more than 1,800 people in person, and 5,000 virtual attendees from the U.S. and around the world. The Agricultural Outlook Forum is the perfect place to connect, learn and engage. Registration will open at the end of October. For more information, go to www.usdaoutlookforum.
Reducing Food Loss And Waste
Last month USDA announced an additional $25 million investment to expand efforts to prevent and reduce food loss and waste. The investment, funded under the American Rescue Plan Act, is part of a joint agency initiative between USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and its Office of the Chief Economist. In the U.S., more than one third of all available food goes uneaten through loss or waste.
When food is tossed aside, so too are opportunities for improved food security, economic growth and environmental prosperity. The funding will support the Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program to reduce food loss and waste; get surplus wholesome food to individuals; and develop linkage between food producers, providers, and food recovery organizations.
Education Opportunities For Food Retailers
Just at press time, USDA released results from the final year of a five-year study that observed how consumers prepared meals. The study was produced by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service as part of its efforts to highlight the importance of safe food handling practices. The study results give ammunition to food retailers that offer progressive consumer affairs programs to their customers. Dr. Emilio Esteban, USDA’s undersecretary for food safety, said, “The results allow us to shape food safety communications and help consumers safely prepare food.”
Food retailers can help convey messages to consumers regarding the basics of handwashing when preparing food, proper use of food thermometers, and concerns when preparing food about cross-contamination. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or call 888.674.6854.
DOL Proposes Expansion Of Overtime Pay
The U.S Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a notice of proposed rulemaking to raise the annual salary level for employees to be exempt from overtime pay. The DOL plans to set the threshold at $55,068, up from the current $35,568, or a new weekly amount of at least $1,059. Among other aspects of the proposed rule is automatically updating the salary threshold on an every-three-year basis to reflect more current earnings data.
In a press release that crossed my desk, DOL administrator Jessica Looman said, “We are committed to ensuring that all workers are paid fairly for their hard work. For too long, many low-paid salaried workers have been denied overtime pay, even though they often work long hours and perform much of the same work as their hourly counterparts.” The 60-day public comment period will end on November 7, 2023.
New FDA Administrator Ready To Roll
The FDA’s first deputy commissioner for human foods, Jim Jones, started work several weeks ago and has vowed to make changes at FDA to focus more on the food side of FDA’s responsibilities versus the drug side of FDA. And the eyes and ears of both the government and the non-governmental sector will be closely scrutinizing his every more. The new deputy commissioner is aware of that and said, “I came here to lead our transformation into a single program that embraces coordination, prevention, and response activities. I am keenly aware of this extraordinary opportunity to modernize and integrate our food safety system and enhance our work to improve nutrition.” Many changes lie ahead so let us see what changes he brings to FDA.
Need Help From Uncle Sam?
With lots of rules and regulations governing the retail food industry, sometimes approaching government for answers to food retail operational issues can be taxing. I know as I have spent countless hours on the telephone and on my computer trying to get clarification on some of the topics I write about. The USDA has unveiled a new source of information that I have found relatively helpful. So, if you have a question, try this new website AskUSDA.gov. It is easy to navigate too, and one usually gets answers promptly from the website.
Barry Scher is associated with the public policy firm of Policy Solutions LLC and can be reached at [email protected].