<p>By: Krystal Register, MS, RDN, LDN, Vice President, Health & Well-being, FMI</p><p>FMI member initiatives across the food industry are working to support and enhance federal nutrition programs to improve access to nutritious food and build healthy eating habits in scalable ways. This new video spotlight features Jillian Griffith, MSPH, RDN, Senior Health Partnerships Manager at Amazon Access, and Sarah Fleisch, Senior Director of Policy Research and Development at Instacart to share the many ways they are helping customers with access, convenience and health. </p><h5>Helping Consumers by Improving Access to Food, Nutrition and Health<strong> </strong></h5><p> </p><blockquote>At Amazon, we believe our success and scale bring broad responsibility. By improving access to healthy food and lowering the barriers to access everyday essentials, we’re not only supporting individuals’ well-being, but also contributing to stronger, healthier communities.<footer>- Jillian Griffith, MSPH, RDN, Senior Health Partnerships Manager at Amazon Access</footer></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>Instacart, our mission is to help people access the food they love and have more time to enjoy it together. And over the past two years since we launched Instacart Health we’ve been even more focused on helping people to access healthy food.<footer>- Sarah Fleisch, Senior Director of Policy Research and Development at Instacart</footer></blockquote><h5>Helping Customers Shop Conveniently and Live Healthier Lives</h5><p>Amazon is focused on creating more accessible, affordable and convenient ways for low-income customers to shop for nutritious food. How are they doing this? </p><ul data-list="0" data-level="1"><li><strong>SNAP EBT</strong> payment acceptance is available to those eligible nationwide. So no matter where customers are in the U.S., they can shop for groceries from Amazon.com, and from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Markets where available.</li><li>As Jillian shares in the video,<em> “We recognize the importance of <strong>convenience equity</strong>. For us, that means ensuring everyone, regardless of income or geographic location, can shop for healthy food and access other everyday essentials so our customers can live healthier lives with greater ease.” </em></li><li>This led to the launch of <strong>Amazon Access</strong>, the centralized shopping hub designed to make the shopping experience easier and more affordable, especially for low-income shoppers. Customers have easy access to pay with <strong>SNAP EBT</strong> so they no longer need to rely solely on in-person shopping, as Jillian notes <em>“can really be challenging for those living in areas with low grocery access or just managing a tight schedule.” </em></li><li>This also allows customers to access discounts and deals on groceries and everyday essentials through the <strong>Access Discounts</strong> program, a new way for customers to save on brands they love and household products they order most.<em></em></li><li>Additionally, customers can find out more about <strong>Prime Access</strong>, the membership for qualifying government assistance recipients and income-verified customers that includes all of the benefits of a regular Prime membership for 50% of the cost. That’s all of Prime’s fast, free delivery on a vast selection of items, exclusive deals and discounts, and extensive streaming choices on Prime Video and so much more. </li><li>Amazon is also excited to share that <strong>Cash EBT</strong> is now accepted as a payment option on Amazon.com in 20 states and the District of Columbia.</li></ul><p>Instacart Health is working to ensure every person has access to the nutritious food they need to live a healthy life. How are they doing this? </p><ul data-list="0" data-level="1"><li>Instacart is increasing the ability for people to use <strong>SNAP EBT</strong> benefits on Instacart; notably, they were the first online grocery market to offer SNAP acceptance in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. <br /></li><li>In the video, you can see how Instacart connects nearly 98% of U.S. households enrolled in SNAP to 180+ retail banners and FMI member grocery stores – that’s over 30,000 regional and national stores across the country. </li><li>With food insecurity at an all-time high, Instacart saw an opportunity to offer a tool to help streamline the enrollment process. In the video, you will see how the unique <strong>Instacart SNAP screener tool</strong> works. The tool is available to anyone nationwide from the SNAP information page. In less than 60 seconds anyone can anonymously check their eligibility for SNAP benefits and find the relevant state resources to help streamline enrollment. </li><li><strong>Fresh Funds</strong> is a tool that is a category specific grocery stipend. What’s exciting about this tool is that it can be used to bring any nutrition or food as medicine intervention online at scale, including produce prescriptions, medically tailored groceries and so much more.</li><li>As Sarah shares in the video, <em>“Our platform allows families to shop for nearly all of the retailers they know and love, giving healthcare the ability to scale food as medicine programs quickly and effectively, in a way that was previously not possible.”</em></li><li>To combat the growing food insecurity rate, Instacart launched <strong>Community Carts</strong> in 2022 to make it easier for consumers to participate in crowdsourced cart building by donating groceries to more than 120 local Feeding America member food banks across the U.S. </li><li><strong>Care Carts</strong> allow anyone – an organization, family member or caregiver – to order and send groceries to someone else. In 2024, Instacart announced a partnership with Feeding America food banks in disaster-prone areas using Care Carts to ensure families can still access the nutritious food they need as they rebuild and recover.</li></ul><p>Watch the video: </p><div data-sf-ec-immutable="" contenteditable="false" style="width:560px;height:315px;display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" class="-align-center"><div data-sf-disable-link-event=""><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8RwExJ3tIv8?si=E_k6QoMH4t9L_yCd" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div></div>
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