Economic Research Service, USDA, 805 Pennsylvania Avenue, Kansas City, MO64105, USA.
Public Health Nutr. 2021 May;24(7):1841-1850. doi: 10.1017/S1368980020004929. Epub 2020 Dec 15.
To examine the variety of fruits and vegetables lower income households in the USA can buy while meeting Federal dietary recommendations at different levels of expenditure.
Simulation techniques were used to create 3000 market baskets of fruits and vegetables. All baskets contained enough food for a four-person household to meet dietary recommendations for fruits and vegetables over 1 week. Each basket's retail value was estimated along with the ability of a representative household to afford each basket with different levels of expenditure.
We used data from the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Fruit and Vegetable Prices data product which reports a US household's costs to buy each of 157 different fruit and vegetable products per edible cup equivalent.
We consider the situation facing a lower income household that receives maximum benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). These benefits are enough for the household to obtain a nutritious and palatable diet without spending any of its own money on food if it approximately follows USDA's Thrifty Food Plan.
Households receiving maximum SNAP benefits can buy a sufficient variety and quantity of fruits and vegetables if they allocate about 40 % of those benefits to these two food groups. However, if households spend less than that amount, the variety of products they can buy while still satisfying recommendations drops off quickly.
Households that move fruits and vegetables to the centre of their budgets can better afford to meet Federal dietary guidelines.
考察美国低收入家庭在不同支出水平下，为满足联邦饮食建议，所能购买的水果和蔬菜种类。
采用模拟技术创建 3000 种水果和蔬菜的购物篮。所有购物篮都包含足够的食物，供四口之家在一周内满足水果和蔬菜的饮食建议。根据不同的支出水平，估计了每个篮子的零售价值以及代表性家庭购买每个篮子的能力。
我们使用了美国农业部（USDA）水果和蔬菜价格数据产品的数据，该产品报告了美国家庭购买 157 种不同水果和蔬菜产品每种可食用杯当量的成本。
我们考虑了接受补充营养援助计划（SNAP）最大福利的低收入家庭的情况。如果该家庭大致遵循美国农业部的节俭食品计划，这些福利足以让其在不花自己一分钱购买食物的情况下，获得营养丰富且美味的饮食。
如果接受 SNAP 最大福利的家庭将大约 40%的福利分配给这两个食品组，他们可以购买足够的水果和蔬菜种类和数量。然而，如果家庭支出低于这个数额，那么他们在满足建议的同时，可购买的产品种类会迅速减少。
将水果和蔬菜放在预算中心的家庭可以更好地负担满足联邦饮食指南的费用。
