- An outage affecting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has been reported across the country, according toThe program, known as SNAP, provides nutrition benefits to supplement the food budget of low-income families so they can purchase healthy food. Electronic Benefits Transfer, known as EBT, is an electronic system similar to a debit card that allows a SNAP participant to pay for food using SNAP benefits.
The department tweeted Sunday evening: “The third party processor for EBT cards has confirmed to DSS that all systems have been restored and cards issued to clients should be operational statewide at approved EBT retailers.”Sunday afternoon: “DTA has been informed by the state’s EBT vendor that the EBT system is currently down in Massachusetts & some other states. You will not be able to use your EBT card or check your real time balance at this time.
The department tweeted an update Sunday evening, writing: “DTA has been informed by the state’s EBT vendor that the EBT system is currently back up and running. The agency will continue to monitor the system. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.” As of 6:17 p.m. ET, Down Detector was showing 1,778 reported outages, down from a peak of 5,019 around 2:50 p.m.