According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of food stamp recipients is at record highs across the nation.

With more people receiving assistance than ever before and retailers across the country struggling to maintain if not increase sales, many stores that had not previously accepted food stamps are taking steps to do so.

Costco Wholesale Corp. recently announced it would begin accepting food stamps at its warehouse clubs nationwide. Dollar General and Dollar Tree stores also participate in the government program.

"We began to get requests in some of the communities we operate in for us to accept food stamps," said Franz Lazarus, a senior vice president at Costco. "We now accept food stamps in every store."

While most major grocery stores have accepted food stamps for years, Whole Foods had guarded its upscale image until recently being unable to resist the buying power of about 37 million people receiving food stamps.

"To succeed and grow in today's competitive environment, retailers need to focus on responding to shopper needs," said Jon Hauptman, a partner at food retailing consultant Willard Bishop Consulting, based in Barrington, Ill.

"Given the economic climate, more and more shoppers are using food stamps, and accepting food stamps will allow these retailers to capture shopper spending today and into the future, whether those same shoppers are using food stamps or not."

To participate in the government program, stores must routinely stock at least three varieties of foods in each of four categories -- breads/cereals; dairy products; fruits and vegetables; and meat, fish or poultry -- and at least two of the categories must include perishable foods. If a store does not meet the criteria, it also can qualify if more than half its total gross sales are in staple foods that don't include candy, soft drinks or prepared foods.

The stimulus bill that passed Congress in June added $20 billion to the food stamp program, $179 million of which benefits Pennsylvania residents who need help with groceries.

The government's emphasis on outreach and the lowering of eligibility standards has helped put food stamps in the hands of more families. One in eight Americans and one in four children now count on federal aid to provide some portion of what they eat.

"The fact that food stamp usage is up leads us to say the stigma once associated with food stamps is down," said John Karl Scholz, a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-author of the book "Changing Poverty, Changing Policies," published by the Russell Sage Foundation, which studies problems facing the poor.

"It's a good thing food stamps are available and are being used, but it's worrisome that the need for food stamps is so high," he said.

No longer limited to single mothers, the population of people depending on food assistance includes two-income families, unemployed white-collar workers, senior citizens, adults with no children and college graduates who are unable to find work in a slow job market.

"So many people want to continue attaching stigma to public assistance programs but what they forget is they could be one paycheck away," said Stacy Witalec, a spokeswoman for the state food stamp program. "We need to make sure we are helping those among us who need it most.

"People are now receiving assistance from the federal government so they can take what formerly was their food budget and use those resources to benefit their families in other ways," Ms. Witalec said.

Although still referred to as "food stamps," the welfare program has come a long way from the paper coupons that shoppers used to tear out of a booklet and hand to the cashier. Now, food stamps users are provided with an inconspicuous debit card.

Last year the program was formally given a new name to spruce up its image, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Among other changes, the federal government eliminated a requirement that recipients have less than $2,000 in assets. As of June, assets are no longer counted.

Eligibility standards also were decreased from 130 percent of poverty guidelines to 160 percent of poverty guidelines as of Oct. 1. What that means is a family of three making less than $2,442 a month could qualify for food stamps. Under the old guidelines, a family of three would have needed a monthly income of less than $1,983 to qualify.

"Our numbers have really gone through the roof in the last year," said Joni Rabinowitz, co-director of Just Harvest, a community-based organization on the South Side that advocates for the poor. Just Harvest has a contract with the state Department of Public Welfare to submit food stamp applications in Allegheny County.

Ms. Rabinowitz said Just Harvest submitted 1,075 food stamp applications to the state as of Nov. 30 compared with 334 food stamp applications in all of 2008.

"Increasingly, the people who apply for food stamps through us have never used food stamps before," she said. "And increasingly, they are people who are working or are recently unemployed. Most of them do not receive welfare, and most of the people on food stamps are children.

"People are beginning to see food stamps not as a welfare program but as assistance for people who need help."

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