they are said it accepts the lone star card, which in texas is our method for doing that. and you also see an instance of grocery stores in convenience stores also offering quite a few hot food items that i would think would not qualify under the program. what are you all, i guess i will address this to ms. fong, what are you all saying with respect to that? and what can we do to combat that? >> we, as far as i know, have not received any allegations along those lines that would indicate fraud or criminal activity. i would defer to the undersecretary because i think it's really a policy question. >> i would be happy to try to answer. to the second part of your question, when you look at, first of all, consumers cannot buy hot food, period. they can buy frozen foods, and

there are pizza chains that have been admitted into the program over time. i mentioned earlier, my testimony, one of the definition of who's eligible for the program in terms of the 231,000 providers is set in the statute through the farm bill. and it requires a minimum number of certain food groups is what referred to as the depth of require that i would like to see that strengthened. >> let me follow up on that maybe with ms. hatcher because we have the technology now in place through upc codes. we can actually determine what items are qualified and don't qualify. and i guess if you want to get into a big brother senator, could actually probably linkup who is buying what. and with the cost of upc readers or 20, $30, look up to a pc, i can't imagine any sort being too small to implement. do you see some technological

solutions to these problems? and could some of these technological solutions -- i will let you answer and i will come back, the undersecretary. >> i guess the question about hot food, that one is already taken care of now because our members come and we educate them very clearly, hot foods are not eligible. we code in anything that is a hot food item as an eligible in the store. so, and then i think the question on the pizza thing, you know, it would depend exactly, if it's a frozen pizza in the frozen section then it would be eligible. if it's a heated pizza over in the deli area would not be eligible. >> it strikes me, made to order pizza cooked on a coat is stretching it. mr. undersecretary, i guess my question to you is do you see a technological solution? another complaint that i hear

consistently from constituents is people will go in and buy highly processed food with low nutritional value. i mean, i don't want to get in the business of dictating what people do and don't eat, but to some degree our money, our rules. i mean, what do you see as an optimum situation there? >> unfortunate on the processed food question, i'm not talking about those many care to come from larger cares, i'm talking about processed foods that has too much sodium and too many trans fats and so on, all of us unfortunately as americans, we eat more processed food in any country in the world. so we are trying to another part that i've responsibility for, the center for nutrition policy, to encourage americans to eat healthier, more fruit and vegetables, my plate is a simple but i think a very effective icon. and would also encourage access to farmers markets, in your case lone star beneficiaries, to try to nudge them, direct them to

buying healthier often locally grown foods. but i'm also still, i remain very interested in increasing the requirement for these small stores to have better choices and fresh fruits, healthier foods rather than just the overabundance of processed food. >> i see my time has expired. thank you very much. >> i thank the gentleman. all time has expired. i want to thank our panel of witnesses. i think this was informative. contrary to what might have been perceived, this was a limited hearing, limited to businesses do in fact defraud the government and deny our children, that 22 million or more children, the receipt of the actual food rather than trading 50 for 100. our attention -- intent is to allow for at least five days for members who were not able to get different questions to supplement by asking all of your questions. would you agree to respond to them if you get them in writing? >> certainly spent i want to

thank you out also like to ask unanimous consent that any witness who thinks of something that you didn't say that wants to supplement their own record be allowed to do so. without objection, so ordered. we stand adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

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