Food-Borne Illness and Farmers Markets Accepting Food Stamps

Abstract

I study the relationship between farmers markets accepting food stamps (SNAP) and food-borne illness in the United States. Using a state-level panel data set that covers 50 states and the District of Columbia for 2004-2013, I find no relationship between SNAP-accepting farmers markets per capita and reported outbreaks of food-borne illness and cases of food-borne illness per capita. When including SNAP redemption value at farmers markets as a control variable, I find a negative and statistically significant relationship between farmers markets accepting food stamps per capita and reported C. perfringens outbreaks per capita for 2009-2013. When excluding SNAP redemption value at farmers markets from the control variables, I find positive and statistically significant relationships between farmers markets accepting food stamps per capita and reported staphylococcus aureus outbreaks, as well as reported Salmonella enterica outbreaks, per capita. The falsification and placebo tests indicate that these relationships are likely to be spurious.