|
Retailers are scrambling to find out what thousands of foods will no longer be eligible under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program come January.
By Marcia Brown
12/20/2025 02:00 PM EST
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s long-heralded food stamp reform is coming Jan. 1, but everyone’s confused about how to implement it.
Eighteen states have adopted restrictions on using food aid to purchase soda and other processed foods, prompted by the Health secretary’s Make America Healthy Again agenda. The bans vary widely from state to state, and the absence of detailed guidance has left local officials, retailers and participants of the nation’s largest anti-hunger initiative struggling to determine which foods are still allowed.
The Agriculture Department, which runs the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and oversees states’ plans, has yet to offer definitive enforcement guidelines and did not give a timeline on when it would provide guidance on the bans. Some states have already announced implementation delays amid a rush to define what’s banned.
“It’s just a classic government operation where they’ve thrown this out there, and well-meaning though they may be, it’s caused mass confusion, and it’s making some retailers question whether they’re going to stay with the program or not,” said Joe Lackey, president of the Indiana Grocery and Convenience Store Association.
Kennedy’s push for SNAP restrictions has won support from members of both parties and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. But the bans are expected to place a heavy burden on retailers and local economies already bracing for other changes to the nutrition program that serves 40 million Americans.
Retailers could be required to ban as many as 120,000 food and drink items depending on the state, according to an estimate from the National Grocers Association. That could impose hundreds of millions of dollars in compliance costs for retailers each year, because the lists must be continually updated as manufacturers introduce new products and propose reformulations, said Stephanie Johnson, NGA’s vice president of government relations and political affairs.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/20/rfk-snap-state-junk-food-bans-00698790?cid=apn
|
RFK Jr. wants states to ban junk food. No one knows what counts. (I can NOT)