Every few years, Washington reauthorizes or expands the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and a reliable money-transfer mechanism kicks in: SNAP benefits are redeemable at grocery retailers for food, and protein — chicken, ground beef, pork — absorbs a disproportionate share of incremental SNAP dollars. Protein is nutritionally dense, relatively shelf-stable, and culturally central to the American grocery basket. When benefit levels rise, per-household protein volume at the register rises with them. That isn't speculation; USDA's own expenditure data has documented the pattern across multiple expansion cycles. The question is which companies sit closest to the spigot.