Ohioans on food stamps have a week to call a toll-free number and activate their new cards.

Cards with a magnetic strip similar to debit and credit cards are replacing the current "smart cards" that hold information on an embedded computer chip.

Officials explain that the transition is being made to save money.  The smart card program costs the state more than five times what the new cards will cost. In 2003, the state decided to make a switch after The Columbus Dispatch reported that the outgoing food stamp system was the most expensive in the nation.

More than one million low-income Ohioans can begin using their new blue and silver cards next Monday after they activate them and choose a PIN number.