Comment on FR Doc # 2011-14982

July 31, 2011 Ronald Ward Acting Chief, Retailer Management and Issuance Branch Benefit Redemption Division Rm. 418 3101 Park Center Drive Alexandria, Virginia 22302 Dear Mr. Ward, I, Meredith Sobel, a concerned citizen of New York and a student in the dietetic internship program at Utah State University respectfully submit the following comments in response to USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service request for comments about the proposed rule, FNS-2011-0039-0001, which proposes a prohibition on the purchase of redeemable recyclable bottles with SNAP benefits on Indian reservations. The idea behind this regulation is to prevent the user from purchasing an item, spilling out the contents or discarding the item in another way and redeeming the bottle for cash which would be an abuse of the SNAP benefit to obtain extra cash. While this is of concern as an abuse of SNAP benefits, another way to look at this is the nutritional argument. This rule might even encourage SNAP--‐Ed programs to use the 2010 Dietary Guidelines consumer messages, including “Drink water instead of sugary drinks”. Often items in recyclable bottles are often sugar sweetened beverages. Perhaps this proposed regulation would indirectly benefit the SNAP customer by preventing the purchase of sugar sweetened beverages thus reducing the obesity and diabetes risk in this population. I fully stand behind any regulation that reduces the opportunity to purchase sugar sweetened beverages with SNAP benefits. Sincerely, Meredith Sobel Concerned Citizen and Dietetic Intern at Utah State University