Wisconsin FoodShare members who lose groceries to a storm or a power outage can ask the state to replace the benefits, but only within 10 days of the loss. The Department of Health Services (DHS) posted the rule on October 1, 2026, alongside a separate warning about card fraud in eight counties.
That fraud alert is the bigger of the two notices. DHS says it removed the PINs from nearly 6,000 QUEST cards that were compromised or potentially compromised, so affected cardholders cannot buy food until they set a new one.
How the 10-day replacement window works
DHS says FoodShare members who lost food in recent storms or outages must request replacement benefits within 10 days of the loss. Members log in to the ACCESS site and choose “Food Benefits Replacement Request” from the left menu, or they can call their agency or send the request by mail, according to the same DHS notice.
The 10 days run from the day the food was lost, not from the day a member learns about the program. A household that waits until the next monthly deposit is already outside the window, so the first practical step is to write down the date of the outage or storm.
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The state’s rule rests on a federal one. Under federal SNAP regulation 7 CFR 274.6, states must replace food bought with benefits when a household reports it was destroyed in a household misfortune. A loss report is timely if made within 10 days of the destruction, and the household must return a signed statement within 10 days of the report or no replacement is issued.
The same regulation limits a replacement to the household’s loss, up to a maximum of one month’s allotment. It also directs the agency to verify the misfortune, for example through a community agency or another outside contact, so members who lost food in a widespread outage are better placed than someone with no outside confirmation.
Households that qualify for disaster SNAP are treated separately, and a household cannot collect both a disaster allotment and a replacement for the same event. Anyone unsure which applies can ask the county or tribal agency when making the request.
FoodShare is Wisconsin’s name for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the federal food-stamp benefit. The state’s FoodShare page says members should use ACCESS only to apply for and manage benefits, and the MyACCESS app shows the balance and upcoming deposits.
Which counties had skimmed cards, and what cardholders must do
DHS says it found potential skimming of QUEST cards at four stores. The counties named are Adams, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Marquette, Milwaukee, Rock and Washington, and the state advises anyone who used a QUEST card in those counties in the last 90 days to change the PIN now.
A cardholder whose PIN was removed has to set a new one before the card will pay for food. A new PIN can be set through the ebtEDGE website or mobile app, or by calling QUEST Card Service at 877-415-5164, according to DHS.
Skimming means a hidden device copies card data at a register or card reader, and thieves then drain the account. Members in the eight counties who bought groceries in the last three months should treat a rejected card at the checkout as a prompt to reset the PIN rather than as a store error.
Protecting the card after the PIN reset
The DHS card security page says scammers try to steal FoodShare benefits by getting at card data and personal information. It advises covering the keypad when typing a PIN, never sharing the PIN outside the household, and checking the account often in MyACCESS or ebtEDGE for charges the member did not make.
The page also suggests freezing the card between uses in the ebtEDGE app, which blocks purchases until the member turns it back on, and blocking online purchases for anyone who does not shop for groceries on the internet. It says to avoid PINs with repeated or consecutive digits and birth dates, and that phone changes require a birth date and the last four digits of a Social Security number.
A lost or stolen card should be reported to QUEST Card Service right away. Suspected fraud, waste or abuse can be reported to the DHS Office of the Inspector General at 877-865-3432 or through the state’s online fraud report form.
DHS also says cost-of-living adjustments were applied to October 2026 benefits for all members, which raises the amount a spoiled refrigerator or a frozen card puts at risk. A household that spends most of its deposit in the first week is the one hurt most by a locked card or a lost month of groceries.
Language help and disability aids are available through 800-362-3002, the number DHS lists for members who need assistance. Members who lost food should keep photos or notes of the outage, the date and the items thrown out, since the agency may ask for a signed statement and some form of confirmation.
What the notices leave unsaid
DHS does not say which storms or outages triggered the replacement notice, and it does not publish a count of members who lost food. It also does not say how many more cards could lose their PINs if further skimming is found, so members outside the eight counties are not in the group DHS has told to reset now.
The cleanest approach for any FoodShare household is to treat the 10-day replacement clock and the PIN reset as two separate tasks. The first is a deadline that starts at the loss. The second has no stated end date, but a card without a working PIN cannot buy groceries today.
Lost groceries or a dead PIN in the middle of the FoodShare month?
A 10-day replacement window and a card that stops working show how little room a FoodShare household has when a date slips. The same goes for the reporting and renewal dates that keep the benefit coming each month.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer turns those dates into a renewal and reporting calendar and includes 51 state packs, one of them for Wisconsin. Its Part 7 covers reporting changes and EBT problems, the section a household reaches for when a card or a deposit goes wrong.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
