The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)

July 17, 2025

In 1981, the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) was created to reallocate a federal surplus of food and distribute these commodities to common households. However, by the end of the decade these surpluses had been mostly depleted; thus, the Hunger Prevention Act of 1988 authorized for federal funds to be utilized for the purchase of agricultural commodities for this program in lieu of an agricultural surplus. After the 1990 U.S. Farm Bill was released, the word ‘temporary’ was removed from the program title, and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (still TEFAP) was established to assist low-income individuals with gaining access to healthy and nutritious food without any cost to these recipients.

At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a branch called the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) that administers TEFAP, while at the state levels, the FNS distributes fiscal aid as well as commodities to community action agencies that are then responsible for distributing food to local organizations, including food banks or pantries and households. Typical food that is donated by the government to state recipients may include canned, frozen, dried, and fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, meat, poultry, fish, nuts, milk and cheese, and whole-grain and enriched grain products including rice, cereal, and pasta. Moreover, in FY 2020, Congress appropriated $397.1 million for a combination of food purchasing as well as administrative support for State and community organizations.

Participants of TEFAP may also qualify for a number of other USDA programs that provide nutritional assistance to those in need, including: the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) Emergency Food and Shelter Program and the FNS’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), National School Lunch Program (NSLP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), as well as Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP).