Low-income shoppers in Brookhaven and across the state had to abandon carts of groceries Saturday after computer problems caused electronic payments for food stamps to fail.

According to The Associated Press, Mississippi Department of Human Services director Rickey Berry said Xerox handles the electronic payments for 17 states, including Mississippi. The company had computer problems for several hours Saturday, but those were being fixed, Berry told The Associated Press.

He said the problems are not because of the partial shutdown of the federal government.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, informally known as food stamps, provides aid for low-income people. Recipients use electronic-benefit transfer cards similar to debit cards.

Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the nation, and DHS says about 600,000 residents receive food stamps. That’s in a population of nearly three million.

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told The Associated Press his office received complaints about the cards being rejected in several Mississippi counties, in his Delta district and beyond. He said he was contacting federal and state agencies about the situation.

Eliza Shook, a cashier at Corner Grocery in Clarksdale, said many customers were upset about having to go home without food because the payments were failing. She said problems started about 11 a.m., and after several hours, she put a sign on the front door to tell people about the cards weren’t working.

“It’s been terrible,” Shook told AP in a phone interview. “It’s just been some angry folks. That’s what a lot of folks depend on.”

Berry acknowledged Saturday is a big grocery shopping day. He said DHS employees worked several hours to try to resolve the situation.

“I know there are a lot of mad people,” Berry said.

Co-manager of the Brookhaven Piggly Wiggly, Violet Kyzar, reported a similar situation at the store on Monticello Street Saturday.

“We’ve been getting calls every 10-15 minutes all day since early this morning. It’s a Saturday, so yeah, I’ve gotten a lot of calls,” said Kyzar.

Kyzar said the problems with the EBT cards at her store started at approximately 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

By Saturday night, Kyzar said she finally reached the Mississippi DHS, after multiple attempts, and was told a surge that occurred after a power outage is what led to the computer problems at Xerox.

Denise Childress, co-manager of Save-A-Lot in Brookhaven, confirmed the same kind of problems at the Brookway Boulevard store. “We’ve been inundated with phone calls all day long. Phone calls and put-back buggies,” she said.

Xerox Corp. told The Associated Press later Saturday night that access to food stamp systems has been restored in the 17 states that were affected by a temporary outage.

Xerox spokeswoman Jennifer Wasmer said in an email that it took time to restore the system and make sure it was fully functional.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.