Dive Brief:
- Arkansas, Idaho and Utah have received waivers allowing them to amend the statutory definition of eligible food under SNAP and thus expand the list of products excluded from the program, the USDA announced Tuesday.
- The waivers for Utah and Idaho will take effect Jan. 1, 2026, while Arkansas’ is set to go into effect on July 1, 2026.
- The three states join the growing list of Republican states that have received SNAP waivers under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
Dive Insight:
This latest batch of waivers marks six Republican states that have signed on to the Trump administration’s push to allow states the ability to limit what consumers can spend their SNAP funds on.
In mid-May, Nebraska became the first state to receive a SNAP waiver, which will no longer allow people to use SNAP funds to purchase soda and energy drinks. A few days later, the USDA announced that Iowa and Indiana received SNAP waivers.
Prior to these waivers, SNAP participants were restricted from using their SNAP funds to buy alcohol, tobacco, hot and prepared foods, and personal care products. With the waivers, states are excluding additional items like candy, soda and energy drinks from SNAP eligibility.
State-by-state breakdown of SNAP waivers
Supporters of the SNAP waivers say they incentivize consumers to buy healthier foods with their SNAP dollars and strengthen the Make America Healthy Again agenda, which looks to crack down on ultra-processed foods and ingredients to address chronic disease and obesity. In the Tuesday announcement, Kennedy urged all state governors to seek SNAP waivers “to eliminate sugary drinks—taxpayer dollars should never bankroll products that fuel the chronic disease epidemic.”
Industry groups representing grocers have pushed back. FMI—The Food Industry Association and the National Grocers Association have both raised concerns that SNAP waivers could cause confusion among SNAP consumers and retailers, and potentially lead to reduced SNAP spending.
“While pilots and waivers may have an important role, it is critical not to create chaos and confusion both in individual stores and through a jumbled mixture of varying state requirements – creating new program inefficiencies, longer grocery store lines and customer frustration,” FMI President and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin said in a statement.
The NGA said earlier this year that the “impacts of all waivers should also be thoroughly evaluated during and after implementation to determine whether their goals are being met without negatively affecting access to nutritious food.”
