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Americans using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in some states will be prohibited from purchasing certain kinds of junk food.
Beginning in January, 18 states will restrict the purchase of certain foods.
The ban is being carried out under the aegis of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. Participating states have had to submit a waiver to the Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees SNAP.
Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, and West Virginia will implement purchase restrictions on 1 January, 2026. Idaho, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado, Texas, Virginia, and Florida have starting dates from February to April. Arkansas, Tennessee, Hawaii, South Carolina, North Dakota, and Missouri will begin their bans between July and October.
Under the new rules, candy, soda and energy drinks, as well as some kinds of prepared foods, will not be available to SNAP recipients.
In Tennessee and Iowa, SNAP recipients will not be able to buy processed food, categorised as food that has been changed in any way from its natural state.
Prepared desserts will be off the menu in Florida and Missouri.
Meanwhile, in Iowa, foods that are prepared for consumption of come with eating utensils will be unavailable. Bread, fruit and canned goods will still be permitted.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said these are “bold” and “historic” steps to reduce the burden of chronic disease in the US.
“We are restoring SNAP to its true purpose—nutrition,” Rollins said in a written statement.
“With these new waivers, we are empowering states to lead, protecting our children from the dangers of highly-processed foods, and moving one step closer to the President’s promise to make America Healthy Again.”
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, “We cannot continue a system that forces taxpayers to fund programs that make people sick and then pay a second time to treat the illnesses those very programs help create.”
These restrictions are the first in the history of the program.
Between 2000 and 2024, the USDA repeatedly denied requests from states to restrict foods available under the program.
In 2007, the USDA explained that “no clear standards exist for defining foods as good or bad, or healthy or not healthy.”
