The EBT System Back Up and Running

A computer failure is to blame for keeping people from using their food stamp cards Saturday. EBT cards were rejected at grocery stores in 17 tates including Massachusetts.

The Federal Supplemental Assistance Program issues the payment cards to low-income beneficiaries.

Karen Arena, a spokesman for Xerox which administers the program, said the outage occurred during a routine test of backup systems Saturday morning.

The system was fully restored by Saturday night.