SNAP recipients are no longer allowed to use their benefits to purchase candy, junk food, or sodas. The ban went into effect in 5 states on January 1, 2026.
People living in Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, and West Virginia will not be allowed to purchase junk food including candy, potato chips, cakes, processed snacks, sweetened juices and soft drinks.
These states are the first of 18 states that will ban junk food purchases using SNAP benefits.
The ban is part of a push by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to eliminate unhealthy foods from the diets of those who receive federal SNAP benefits.
“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.
Statistics show diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity rates increased among those who eat unhealthy diets.
Disease and illnesses related to poor diets cost the federal government billions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid payments.
Kennedy, who is not a licensed doctor, says the ban will help reduce chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes associated with sweetened drinks and foods.
But critics argue the federal government shouldn’t police the food people eat.
“Broadening restrictions essentially tells these families they can’t be trusted to make their own food choices, which is both demeaning and, according to the evidence, ineffective at improving nutrition behaviors,” said Kate Bauer, associate professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, in a statement. “We all deserve dignity.”
The ban will last until 2028. States have the option to extend the ban for another three years.
