Food prices outstrip food stamps, Boston survey finds

Families that receive the highest level of food stamps still have to spend thousands of dollars a year to meet basic food needs, a joint report from Boston and Philadelphia says.

In Boston the gap is $2,250 a year and in Philadelphia it's $3,165, according to researchers led by John Cook of Boston Medical Center and Mariana Chilton of Drexel University School of Public Health. Low-income families in the two cities also couldn't necessarily find the foods recommended by the government's Thrifty Food Plan in their neighborhoods. In Boston, 16 percent of the stores didn't stock healthier choices such as whole grains, fresh vegetables, and low-fat milk and cheese. In Philadelphia, 38 percent didn't have these choices.

"The Thrifty Food Plan is not keeping up with the changing world and steadily increasing food prices," the report from the Children's Sentinel Nutrition Assessment Program says.

The project was funded by the WK Kellogg Foundation and the Claneil Foundation; Project Bread supported a 2004 pilot for the program.