BANGOR — The federal government on Friday asked Maine officials to delay their plans to put photos on welfare benefit cards until it can ensure that the effort doesn’t negatively impact recipients or retailers.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that it will begin putting photos on electronic benefit transfer cards on Monday in an effort to target fraud and abuse in the program. The state plans to start first in Bangor and says most cards will have photos by the end of the year.

But in a letter to the department, federal officials said that Maine should wait until it has had time to fully review and approve the state’s plan.

Maine should not rush into implementation, “given the risk of losing federal financial participation, as well as the risk for litigation” if the state violates regulations in the welfare program, Patricia Dombroksi, interim Regional Administrator for the Food and Nutrition Service wrote to the state.

Maine officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Advocates for the poor, who have opposed the plan to put photos on the cards, said the administration is putting federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program at risk.

“With its letter, the Department of Agriculture makes clear that the LePage administration is moving too quickly,” Sara Gagni-Holmes, executive director of Maine Equal Justice Partners, said in a statement. “If Gov. LePage moves forward with his politically motivated effort to place photographs on EBT cards, he will jeopardize tens of thousands of federal dollars used to help administer a program that feeds thousands of Mainers, including children and seniors.”