The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) does a lot to help out low-income American families — 46 million Americans participate in the program, half of whom are children. This means there’s lots of money in SNAP — thanks to the weak economy, SNAP expenditures increased from $30 billion in 2007 to $72 billion last year.

SNAP is regulated as part of the Farm Bill, and as this year’s bill is being debated in Congress, much attention has been focused on cutting some food assistance for poor Americans.

But whose food assistance won’t be cut? The big corporations that profit off SNAP.

As Michele Simon writes in her recent paper “Food Stamps: Follow the Money,” ”While much attention has focused on how farm subsidies fuel our cheap, unhealthy food supply, SNAP represents the largest, most overlooked corporate subsidy in the farm bill.”

Simon outlines how three different powerful industries profit from SNAP: food manufacturers like Coca-Cola and Kraft; food retailers like Walmart; and big banks, including J.P. Morgan Chase, which work with states to administer benefits.