New Incentive to Buy Healthy Foods

It’s hard to plan meals when money is tight and it may be even harder to spend limited cash on perishables. In an effort to improve nutrition, a new program will offer incentives for low-income people to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

The program, which will launch in September in about a dozen Tennessee counties, is for people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Customers who use a SNAP card to buy fresh produce at select Kroger’s stores and farmers markets will receive coupons to defray the cost of fruits and vegetables the next time they shop.

The program, which will also launch in Mississippi, operates through a $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to AARP Foundation, with an additional $1 million from UnitedHealthcare.

Nearly 9 percent of Tennesseans age 60-plus are at risk of hunger. For more information, go to aarp.org/tn.