History and Impact
The cheese was bought and stored by the government's Commodity Credit Corporation. Direct distribution of dairy products began in 1982 under the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program of the Food and Nutrition Service. According to the government, it "slices and melts well." The cheese was provided monthly, in unsliced block form, with generic product labeling and packaging.
Currently, the USDA provides a subsidized food program for specific classes of foods in the United States known as the Women, Infants and Children program, as well as other programs such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).
In the United States the term has been used, sometimes derisively, to describe government assistance, monetary or otherwise, given some U.S. residents; for example, a person receiving such aid could be said to "live on Government Cheese."
Read more about this topic: Government Cheese
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