The program serves about one in eight Americans and is a major piece of the nation’s social safety net. Word in October that it would be a Nov. 1 casualty of the shutdown sent states, food banks and SNAP recipients scrambling to figure out how to secure food.

Starting Saturday, cards that SNAP beneficiaries use to buy groceries will not be reloaded after the Trump administration said last week it won’t use a roughly $5 billion contingency fund to keep funding the program next month.

The USDA said each Farm Service Agency office will have two workers who will be paid even though the government remains shutdown. Thousands of other federal employees like air traffic controllers are working without pay during the shutdown.

If prices remain high, it will be third year in a row consumers have faced sticker shock ahead of Easter on April 20 and Passover, which starts on the evening of April 12, both occasions in which eggs play prominent roles.

The Local Food Purchase Assistance Program uses federal funding to buy fresh products from farmers at a fair market value, then distributes the food to communities via food pantries and other similar programs designed to help people in need for no additional cost.

The effects of President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on allies and rivals are yet to be seen, but farmers in Illinois are bracing for their impact — even as they wait years for Congress to pass long-term federal spending legislation.

School districts currently work with processing companies to offer cashless payment systems for families. But the companies can charge “processing fees” for each transaction.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released a new plant hardiness zone map, and significant swaths of the country — Chicago included — are now in warmer zones.

One of the best parts about the holiday is the leftovers, which if you plan your meal right can last you for days. 

Go ahead and rinse your cranberries, potatoes and green beans. But food experts say don’t — repeat don’t — wash the turkey before popping it in the oven on Thanksgiving Day.

Federal officials are advising consumers to rid their fridges of salads and wraps linked to an intestinal illness that has sickened more than 600 people in Illinois since mid-May.

Nathan Morin says he stopped wearing deodorant because he was "lazy and cheap." But when he moved to Chicago and became a bicycle commuter, he rediscovered the need for some type of odor protection. That's when his search for a certified organic deodorant led him to an unlikely place: the kitchen, where he began concocting his own recipe.