The list of things a food-stamp dollar can buy is shrinking, and the map of where that happens now covers 18 states. Through a wave of federal waivers granted over the past year, roughly a third of the country has won permission to bar soda, candy, energy drinks, and in some states prepared desserts from purchases made with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. The restrictions are phasing in through 2026, some already live at the register and others still weeks away, and they arrive after a federal court knocked five other states out of the same program.
What the approved waivers actually bar at checkout
The waivers do not cut anyone’s benefit amount. A household’s monthly SNAP allotment stays exactly the same; what changes is the list of eligible items that allotment can cover. The banned categories cluster around sugar. Sugary soft drinks and candy appear in nearly every approved state, and several add energy drinks. A smaller group goes further into what counts as a treat.
Florida’s waiver, for example, extends the restriction to prepared desserts alongside soft drinks and candy, which is why the shift is not accurately described as a soda ban alone. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service maintains a running state-by-state list of approved food-restriction waivers, and the effective dates are staggered rather than uniform. A handful of states, including Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Florida, already have restrictions running, while the remaining approved states carry start dates still ahead on the calendar.
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The ‘demonstration project’ fight that struck down five states
The number could easily have been higher. USDA had approved waivers in more than 20 states before a legal challenge reshaped the map. In June 2026, a federal judge blocked the waivers in five states, ruling that the agency had overstepped the legal authority it invoked to grant them. The decision voided the restrictions in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, and West Virginia, the states named in that particular suit.
The dispute turns on a technical but consequential point. USDA approved the restrictions as “demonstration projects,” a category of waiver meant to test whether a program can be run more efficiently or effectively. The court found that improving recipients’ diets or health is not what that authority was designed to measure, so using it to police grocery choices exceeded the agency’s power. The ruling did not reach the merits of whether soda belongs on a benefits card; it addressed only whether USDA had used the right legal tool to make the call.
That leaves the surviving 18 states in an odd position. Their waivers were granted under the same theory the court rejected, but they were not parties to the suit, so their restrictions remain in force for now. Advocacy groups on both sides have signaled more litigation, meaning the count could shift again before every scheduled start date arrives. For households in the affected states, the practical status quo is that the rules apply unless and until a court or the agency says otherwise.
What it means for older Americans who rely on SNAP
Roughly a third of SNAP households include someone who is elderly or disabled, so this is not an abstract policy debate for retirees living on fixed incomes. For a shopper in one of the 18 states, the change shows up quietly at the register: eligible groceries ring up on the benefits card as always, while a soda or a candy bar in the same cart gets kicked to a separate, out-of-pocket payment. Nothing about the monthly deposit changes, and the vast majority of a typical grocery run, including produce, meat, dairy, bread, and shelf-stable staples, remains fully covered.
The restrictions are the most visible piece of a broader “Make America Healthy Again” push to steer public nutrition dollars away from sugar, and supporters argue that taxpayer-funded benefits should not subsidize products linked to diabetes and heart disease. Critics counter that the rules single out low-income shoppers for choices no one polices for anyone else, and that defining exactly which products count as “candy” or a “dessert” creates confusion at the checkout line for cashiers and customers alike. Both arguments will get louder as the phased dates roll out.
For now, the number that matters is 18, and the safest assumption for anyone using SNAP in one of those states is that the sweet-and-fizzy aisle has moved off the benefits card. The precise product list and start date vary by state, and USDA’s waiver page is the authoritative place to confirm what applies where. The one certainty is that the food-stamp program, long defined by which foods it would cover, is now increasingly defined by which foods it will not.
This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI and reviewed by The Money Overview editorial team.
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