Marketplace, March 2026
Some twenty states around the country want to restrict people from using SNAP benefits to buy “non-nutritious” items, including sugar-sweetened beverages, sodas, and candy. Those states received waivers from the federal government to enact the restrictions, some of which have already gone into effect. As the restrictions roll out this year and next, a group of SNAP recipients and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ) filed a lawsuit Wednesday arguing the U.S. Department of Agriculture did not follow the proper procedures before granting the waivers. A handful of states have started implementing the restrictions with effects for SNAP recipients, said Katherine Deabler-Meadows, a senior attorney with NCLEJ.
“Recipients who have specific needs to buy specific foods are either shorting their other household expenses or going without,” Deabler-Meadows said. One plaintiff in Iowa, she said, has to stay hydrated to manage his kidney disease, but now can’t buy Gatorade with his benefits. Christopher Bosso, professor of public policy and politics at Northeastern University, said the restrictions aren’t controversial “if you take it at face value.”
