5 states ban soda, candy and other snacks for SNAP recipients under MAHA food stamp campaign
Starting Thursday, Americans in five states who get government help paying for groceries will see new restrictions on soda, candy and other foods they can buy with those benefits.
Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and West Virginia are the first of at least 18 states to adopt waivers banning the purchase of certain foods through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
It’s part of an initiative by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to urge states to remove foods considered unhealthy from the $100 billion federal program — long known as food stamps — that serves 42 million Americans.
“We cannot maintain a system that forces taxpayers to fund programs that make people sick, then pay a second time to treat the illnesses those same programs help create,” Kennedy said in a statement in December.
The efforts aim to reduce chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes associated with sugary drinks and other treats, a key goal of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again effort.
But retail and health policy experts said the state’s SNAP programs, already under pressure from steep budget cuts, are unprepared for the complex changes, without comprehensive lists of affected foods and technical challenges at the point of sale that vary by state and store. And research remains mixed on whether restricting SNAP purchases improves diet quality and health.
The National Retail Federation, a trade association, predicts longer lines and more customer complaints as SNAP recipients learn which foods are covered by the new waivers.
“It’s a disaster waiting to happen that people are trying to buy food and being rejected,” said Kate Bauer, a nutritional sciences expert at the University of Michigan.
A report from the National Grocers Association and other industry trade groups estimates that implementing SNAP restrictions would cost U.S. retailers $1.6 billion initially and $759 million annually in the future.
“Punishing SNAP recipients means we all have to pay more at the grocery store,” said Gina Plata-Nino, SNAP director for the hunger advocacy group Food Research & Action Center.
The waivers mark a departure from decades of federal policy first adopted in 1964 and then authorized by the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, which stated that SNAP benefits could be used for “any food or food product intended for human consumption” except alcohol and ready-to-eat hot meals. The law also states that SNAP cannot pay for tobacco.
In the past, lawmakers have proposed blocking SNAP from paying for expensive meats like steak or so-called junk foods, like chips and ice cream.
But previous waiver requests had been denied based on a USDA study concluding that the restrictions would be costly and complicated to implement and might not change recipients’ purchasing habits or reduce health problems such as obesity.
However, under the second Trump administration, states were encouraged, even incentivized, to request waivers – and they responded.
“This is not the typical, top-down, one-size-fits-all public health program,” Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said when he announced his state’s request last spring. “We focus on root causes, transparent information and concrete results. »
The five state waivers that take effect Jan. 1 affect about 1.4 million people. Utah and West Virginia are banning the use of SNAP to purchase soda and soft drinks, while Nebraska will ban soda and energy drinks. Indiana will target soft drinks and candy. In Iowa, which has the most restrictive rules yet, SNAP limits affect taxable foods, including soda and candy, but also some prepared foods.
“The list of items does not provide enough specific information to prepare a SNAP participant to go to the grocery store,” Plata-Nino wrote in a blog post. “Many additional items, including some prepared foods, will also be prohibited, even if they are not clearly identified in the household notice.”
Marc Craig, 47, of Des Moines, said he has been living in his car since October. He said the new waivers will make it harder to figure out how to use the $298 in SNAP benefits he receives each month, while also increasing the stigma he feels at the checkout line.
“They treat people on food stamps like we’re not people,” Craig said.
The SNAP waivers passed now and in the coming months will last two years, with the option to extend them for an additional three years, according to the Department of Agriculture. Each state is required to assess the impact of the changes.
Health experts worry that the waivers ignore larger factors affecting the health of SNAP recipients, said Anand Parekh, a physician and health policy official at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
“It doesn’t solve the two fundamental problems, which is that healthy food in this country is not affordable and that unhealthy food is cheap and ubiquitous,” he said.
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