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Administrator for Policy Support. "With that increased purchasing power, the inten- tion is to allow people to be able to pur- chase almost anything that's able to be consumed at home," he said. "But we all know that all consumers need to improve their diet. SNAP is paying about $400 mil- lion a year to teach people how to eat bet- ter." Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture was started in 2010 by Wash- ington D.C. restaurateur Michael Babin, a co-owner of the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, an award-winning collection of in- dependent businesses devoted to the culi- nary arts in Washington D.C. and Virginia. Babin started the organization, a 501(c)3 charity, after he found himself unable to supply his restaurants with high-quality local produce in sufficient quantity and at an affordable price and reasoned that if he couldn't find that affordable produce, it stood to reason that low-income residents of the city around him couldn't do it either, Hess said. The mobile farmers market pro- gram, one of four major programs for the Arcadia Center, was launched in 2012 and now makes regular weekly stops in neigh- borhoods where the closest food access is often at small convenience stores that don't stock much in the way of perishable pro- duce. Johns Hopkins University public health nutritionist Joel Gittelsohn has been study- ing how corner stores in nearby Baltimore, Maryland, serve their SNAP customers. He says that, "When you talk to the customers, they say that, 'I would love to buy healthy foods, but they are too expensive, not avail- able or are of poor quality in the stores I shop in. Retailers said, 'I would love to stock them, but no one buys them, and the last time I stocked it, it just sat on the shelves.'" The USDA is trying to change that situa- tion by proposing new eligibility standards for retailers participating in the SNAP pro- gram. Under the new rule, those retailers would be required to stock a wider array of food choices. "USDA is committed to ex- panding access for SNAP participants to the types of foods that are important to a healthy diet," said Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon when he announced the proposed rule in February. "This proposed rule ensures that retailers who accept SNAP benefits offer a variety of products to sup- port healthy choices for those participating in the program." The new standards are being fought by NACS, the national trade association of convenience store operators, which says the new rule seems designed to push small convenience stores out of the SNAP pro- gram. "Small businesses will be harmed and SNAP beneficiaries, who rely on these small stores in both urban and rural envi- ronments, will lose options they need to feed their families," NACS wrote in its let- ter to the House Appropriations Subcom- mittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies. The Arcadia Center's program aims to at- tack the same problem of access to healthy food at its roots. Its Mobile Market rolling farm stands make regular weekly stops in low-income neighborhoods around Wash- ington that typically have high SNAP usage, low car ownership and are a mile or more from a conventional grocery store. The program prices the food at fair market value but also matches the face value of benefits from federal food programs. "If you pay $10 for food, what you get is $20 worth," Hess said. About 70 percent of transactions involve some sort of food as- sistance, which can be applied to proteins as well as fruits and vegetables. "Cus- tomers love the idea of grass-fed meats and organic foods because they know it's better for their children – they just can't afford it [at the grocery store]," Hess said. The Mo- bile Market took in $22,000 in SNAP busi- ness in 2015, compared to a total of about $75,000 in SNAP sales at farmers markets throughout the city. The program matched the face amount of those SNAP benefits, so that those customers went home with $44,000 worth of food. "People are using SNAP with us to buy local, high-quality food – they're eschewing the chance to buy cheap at a convenience store," Hess said. "They are voting with the resources they have." Arcadia Center also has a farm on which much of the produce it sells is grown. The center is partnered with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to transform the 126-acre Woodlawn-Pope-Leighey estate, once a part of George Washington's Mount Vernon plantation, into a true Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture. Other food offered at the Mobile Mar- kets is sourced from local farmers who grow responsibly but don't bring their pro- duce into these neighborhoods themselves because they can't sell enough there to make it worth their while. "They can't take that much time from their fields to sell a couple hundred dollars of food," Hess said. "The numbers are small, but we put an ad- ditional $130,000 in the pockets of local farmers that they wouldn't have had be- cause they don't have access to our mar- kets. It helps them diversify their revenue. One of the things that's very important is that we do not feed poor people on the backs of farmers. Our philosophy is that we have to pay our farmers a fair price. Farmers don't make much money, and they cannot be expected to shoulder the weight of paying our poor people." "Handling hunger might not be just about putting more money into SNAP," she continued. "I think it's about helping peo- ple make good choices about using their SNAP, making choices that will nourish them – possibly eating less calories, but eating more nutrient-dense food." GN News & Notes BRIEFS GOURMET NEWS MAY 2016 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 6 Baby Nutrition Study Reveals Inadequacies New research that analyzed 11 years of food and beverage consumption data among babies 0-24 months in the U.S. shows that on any given day only 40 percent of babies are eating vegetables, and most get only about one-third the recommended amount of whole grains. Furthermore, the analysis, taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), shows that as infants transition from baby food to whole food at around nine months, there is a significant increase in sweets, salty snacks and sugar- sweetened beverages. By 12 months, infants and toddlers are consuming more than 5 teaspoons of added sugar and more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day (which is the recommended limit for adults). Snacking Patterns Continue to Shift Snacking consumption has been steadily growing over the past several years, but has accelerated since 2014; 83 percent of consumers in 2016 compared to 76 percent in 2014 snack on a daily basis. Driven by the quickening pace of consumers' lifestyles, the rise of smaller households (that allow for more flexibility around meal times and sizes) and the increasingly widespread notion of snacks as part of a healthful diet, consumers are broadening their definitions of snacks and consuming snacks for more occasions. ALDI Arrives in Los Angeles and Orange Counties On Thursday, April 21, ALDI opened 10 new Southern California locations, six of which are in Los Angeles County, three in Orange County and one new store in San Bernardino County. The easy-to-shop food market takes a simple approach to grocery shopping that translates into big savings for ALDI shoppers. Vermont's GMO Law Trickles Down General Mills Inc. has announced intentions to begin labeling U.S. products that contain GMOs. Previously in January 2014, General Mills made national headlines on the GMO front when it announced it would stop using GMOs in its original (yellow box) Cheerios cereal, subsequently becoming the first major brand of packaged food in the United States to begin marketing itself as non-GMO. Vermont is the first state to require labeling of genetically modified ingredients. The law mandates that food packages in the state must include GMO labeling on July 1. Future of Organic Continued from PAGE 1 AZ International Market place Opens in Arizona AZ International Marketplace opened its doors in Mesa, Arizona, on April 20. The new international shopping space comprises 100,000 square feet of in-demand products from all over the world. There will be a heavy focus on American, Hispanic, and Asian products. The Kroger Co. has promoted Mary Ellen Adcock to serve as Kroger's Group Vice President of Retail Operations, effective May 16. She succeeds Marnette Perry, whose retirement was previously an- nounced. Adcock currently serves as Vice President of Operations for Kroger's Columbus division. "Mary Ellen brings to her new role a strong track record of success leading teams across our business, including man- ufacturing, operations and merchandising. She is the right leader to help shape our vi- sion for store operations as we continue in- vesting to grow," said Rodney McMullen, Kroger's Chairman and Chief Executive Of- ficer. "Mary Ellen will be a great addition to our senior leadership team." Adcock joined the company's Country Oven Bakery in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1999. She held several leadership posi- tions of increasing responsibility in Kroger Manufacturing, including Vice President of Deli/Bakery Manufacturing in Kroger's gen- eral office in 2009. In 2014, Adcock was named Vice President of Merchandising for Kroger's Columbus division. GN Kroger Names Group Vice President of Retail Operations "This proposed rule ensures that retailers who accept SNAP benefits offer a variety of prod- ucts to support healthy choices for those participating in the program." -Kevin Concannon, USDA Undersecretary

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