BALTIMORE- The Maryland Department of Human Services announced Wednesday that it has secured approval from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service on its April 17 request to expedite online grocery purchases for food insecure Marylanders.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP as it’s commonly known, helps low-income households buy the food they need.
This accelerated timeline will provide SNAP households in Maryland with the opportunity to purchase groceries online from approved USDA retailers at no additional cost.
The Department of Human Services secured commitments from several major online retailers that are approved by the USDA, to ensure online SNAP becomes available to Marylanders as soon as possible.
Online SNAP purchasing will be piloted by participating retailers in smaller geographic locations around the state on May 27, and will then be available to customers statewide on May 28.
SNAP recipients will be prompted to enter their EBT card details at checkout, along with the Personal Identification Number (PIN) associated with their card.
To ensure the launch runs smoothly, the Department of Human Services provided test EBT cards to Walmart, Amazon, and ShopRite for end-to-end testing prior to rolling out the online SNAP pilot in Maryland.
