Fox News Retracts Claim that Food Stamp Fraud is at an All-Time High

"Fox & Friends" host Abby Huntsman reported Tuesday (December 27) that fraud in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) "is at an all-time high." Today, she admitted, "Nationally, food stamp trafficking is on the decline."

Neither of those statements is accurate. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, asked Fox to air a correction of their story. The USDA's most recent report on fraud in the program (recipients trading benefits to retailers for cash, usually at a reduced rate) states that the fraud rate for the years 2009 to 2011 is 1.3 percent, up from 1 percent from 2006 to 2008, but down from 4 percent in the 1990's.

The "Fox & Friends" story originally put a $70 million per year price tag on SNAP trafficking. The real figure is $853 million (for a more than $70 billion program, according to USDA data). The rise in fraud is likely due to the expansion of the program.

Huntsman led a panel discussion premised on the idea that food stamp fraud was higher than ever. The question for the panel was "is it time to end the program altogether?" This program provides healthy food for families. As of September 2016, 43.5 million persons were participating in SNAP, according to the USDA. Of those, 21.9 million are children. Participants receive an average benefit of $126.17 per month.

Although trafficking does not increase costs to the Federal Government, it is a diversion of program benefits from their intended purpose of helping low-income families access a nutritious diet. The USDA works aggressively to combat fraud in the program.

"Fox & Friends" did make an effort to correct their story. Neither the show nor the USDA are aware of where and how the incorrect number was arrived at.

USDA SNAP data can be found here.
https://www.fns.usda.gov/data-and-statistics

General information about the SNAP program can be found here.
​https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap

Several articles about the Fox News report and correction can be found here.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2016/12/30/fox-news-runs-incorrect-correction-of-food-stamp-fraud-report-then-corrects-correction/?utm_term=.a14d38e60361
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/312213-fox-news-retracts-claim-food-stamp-fraud-at-all-time-high

The Fox correction is here.
http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/12/27/food-stamp-fraud-all-time-high
http://video.foxnews.com/v/5266112321001/?#sp=show-clips

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