Yum Brands' Food-Stamp Bid Unlikely to Succeed

Health advocates howled when they learned that fast-food giant Yum! Brands wants to let low-income Americans use food stamps at its Taco Bell and KFC restaurants. Now the U.S. Agriculture Dept., which funds the food stamp program, has also voiced its opposition and is encouraging states not to give Yum a green light. “For us to be indifferent to the quality of the food is just a serious mistake,” says Kevin Concannon, the Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. “We should promote access to healthy foods.”

Yum has lobbied government officials in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Kentucky to allow its restaurants to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is administered by the states. The nearly five-decade-old program distributed a record $64.4 billion in the 2010 fiscal year. “Everybody wants to get a piece of that action,” says Marion Nestle, a New York University professor of nutrition and public health. “Right now it’s going to grocery stores; restaurants think that’s not fair.”