SNAP recipients in five states face food purchasing restrictions that the federal program will not cover with SNAP benefits starting today, January 1, 2026.
Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and West Virginia are the first of eighteen states to enforce that soda, candy and other certain food and drinks through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known in short as SNAP, can not be purchased.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins are urging further states to restrict non nutritional foods that now can be purchased with a SNAP benefit cards in thier states.
The $100 billion federal program serves 42 million Americans. The effort to restict certain purchases with SNAP benefits are aimed at reducing chronic diseases, namely obesity and diabetes associated with sweetened drinks and other non healthy treats, a key goal of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again.
While North Carolina is not included with the five states that have implemented new 2026 SNAP purchasing restrictions, the states immediate focus is on the employment aspect. Expanding work and training requirements for participants in all counties by early 2026, a seperate but related trend, with specific details coming at recertification.
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