SNAP bans on soda, candy and other foods take effect in five states Jan. 1 [View all]
Source: Associated Press
By JONEL ALECCIA
Updated 10:09 AM MST, December 30, 2025
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 enact waivers prohibiting the purchase of certain foods through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
It’s part of a push by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to urge states to strip foods regarded as unhealthy from the $100 billion federal program -- long known as food stamps -- that serves 42 million Americans.
“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,” Kennedy said in a statement in December.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/snap-waiver-food-stamps-soda-7787585c75e098d3a16aefacc32ac4f5
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