Your own post is indicating food prices must have went up 12.5% since that is what the inctease was last Oct for 2024.
#116 | POSTED BY BILLJOHNSON
In general SNAP benefits increase as the cost of living/food prices increase:
We adjust SNAP maximum allotments, deductions, and income eligibility standards at the beginning of each federal fiscal year. The fiscal year begins on Oct. 1st. The changes are based on changes in the cost of living. Cost of living is the amount of money needed to support a basic standard of living.
www.fns.usda.gov
However, changes are periodically made to the program which also effect increases in SNAP benefits:
SNAP Benefit Increases to Change Under New Plan
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) changes each year to offer Americans higher benefit amounts due to the impact of inflation, but a new law could shake up the way benefits are calculated.
The House Committee on Agriculture is considering a new farm bill that would adjust how recipients get increases to their SNAP benefits, and it is based on an updated version of the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP).
. . .
In 2021, President Joe Biden switched the rules and adopted a $256 billion increase to SNAP benefits that would take place over the course of 10 years. That allowed SNAP benefits to increase based on whatever amount the government approved for that specific year instead of the market's food price calculation.
However, if the 2024 Farm Bill makes it through, Congress would return SNAP benefit increases to their previous cost-neutral process, based on current food prices and the other metrics that have historically been considered for the payment amounts.
The farm bill could see lower SNAP payments for recipients initially due to the change, but over time, proponents say it would ensure SNAP beneficiaries receive a fair adjustment based on the market and food conditions, instead of it being arbitrarily set by whomever is in power at the time.
. . .
Kevin Thompson, a finance expert who runs the 9i Capital Group, agreed that Biden's update to the program unilaterally increased the spending for SNAP, which led to a substantial increase in benefits for SNAP recipients. But the Biden-era rules make the exact guidelines around SNAP increases more up to interpretation in the near future.
www.newsweek.com
It looks like Biden instituted an increase in the SNAP program during COVID that wasn't directly tied to a COLA increase, and now Republicans in Congress are wanting to turn that increase back. So, no, food prices probably didn't increase by 12.5%, but they did go up during COVID in part due to transportation costs (or so food producers claimed), and they never went back down once shipping costs stabilized after the initial COVID crisis passed.