A Muckraker Foundation investigation alleges food purchased with EBT cards or collected from food pantries in Massachusetts and New York is being packed into barrels, shipped overseas and resold in Santo Domingo.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A new investigation by the Muckraker Foundation alleges that food intended for low-income Americans through food stamps and charitable food pantries is being collected in U.S. cities, shipped to the Dominican Republic and resold for profit.
The investigation traced what the group described as a pipeline from Lawrence, Massachusetts, through shipping warehouses in New York and ultimately to store shelves in Santo Domingo. According to the group, residents obtain food through two main sources: purchases made at local markets using EBT cards and free goods collected from food banks and churches.
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Investigators said the food is then packed into large blue barrels or boxes, dropped off with shipping companies and transported by container ship to the Dominican Republic, where it is sold in local stores.
Lawrence, located about 30 miles north of Boston, has the highest concentration of Dominican immigrants of any city in Massachusetts and the highest rate of SNAP enrollment in the state, according to data cited in the investigation.
A local delivery worker identified as John, who said he has worked in Lawrence for more than 11 years, told investigators he has repeatedly seen Dominican residents collect nonperishable goods from food bank lines before packing them for shipment overseas.
“I’ve been witnessing the Dominican residents going to food bank lines and collecting non-perishable goods,” John said, “and then packing it in barrels and in boxes, and then they ship it back to the Dominican Republic.”
Asked how he knew some of the food was being purchased with food stamps, John said residents had acknowledged it directly.
“Some of them have openly told me and my wife that that’s what they’re doing,” he said. “And then the other way is the math.”
John pointed to the economics of the shipments. He said a 50-pound bag of rice costs about $30 in Lawrence and about $35 in the Dominican Republic, making resale after shipping costs financially implausible unless the food was obtained for free or purchased through government benefits.
During the investigation, John drove Muckraker through Lawrence and showed blue shipping barrels stacked outside corner stores and available for sale. Investigators said store after store displayed those barrels, and each of the stores also advertised that it accepted EBT.
“These barrels aren’t trash cans,” John said. “They’re being used to ship the product.”
Another Lawrence worker identified as Abigail, who said her job regularly takes her inside residents’ homes, described seeing large boxes and bins filled with pantry food.
“Many of them will have large boxes, large bins in their apartments full of the food that they give out at the pantries here,” Abigail said. “And when I ask them what it’s for, they say they mail it back so it can either be given to their families there or be sold in the bodegas there.”
Asked whether the people involved understood the activity as improper, Abigail said they did not.
“No,” she said, laughing quietly. “They feel entitled. They feel like that’s what we come here for.”
She estimated the practice affected “about half” of the people she sees.
Because Massachusetts has strict wiretapping laws, investigators said they shifted part of the inquiry to New York. In the Bronx, Muckraker said it found a storage facility used by multiple Dominican shipping companies as a distribution hub. An associate entered the facility with a hidden camera, and a worker allegedly confirmed that people were using EBT cards to buy food later packed and shipped in boxes.
Investigators said shipments then move to Port Newark, one of the largest container terminals on the East Coast, where large quantities of food are loaded onto ships bound for the Dominican Republic.
In Santo Domingo, Muckraker said a small bodega owner told investigators on camera that inventory in the shop was purchased with EBT cards in New York. The group said shelf prices were roughly comparable to U.S. prices, a pattern investigators said would only make sense after shipping costs if the food had been obtained at no cost or with benefits.
At another shop in Santo Domingo, the owner reportedly said she received inventory from churches in New York City. She said she used her Dominican identification and her mother’s American address when collecting the food. Investigators said boxes behind her contained brands including Ronzoni pasta, Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, Goya beans and Quaker oats.
The investigation placed the alleged activity in the broader context of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. When food stamps were first introduced in 1964, the program served fewer than 400,000 people, according to the submitted material. Today, nearly 42 million Americans receive SNAP benefits, about one in eight people, with taxpayer costs exceeding $100 billion in 2025.
Muckraker said the findings show a need for federal review of food assistance oversight, charitable food distribution and shipping channels used to move goods overseas.
The group released a video investigation documenting its findings and said it is prepared to share footage, sources and related materials with federal authorities or other legitimate investigative bodies.
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