to the federal waiver<\/a>, Louisiana will prohibit SNAP purchases of soft drinks, which is defined as \u201cany carbonated nonalcoholic beverage containing high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners.\u201d<\/p>\n ![\"Coca-Cola](\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\")
<\/p>\n
A worker at the Coca-Cola United bottling plant in Elmwood prepares to move pallets of Coke products in an undated photo.<\/p>\n
Provided by Coca-Cola Bottling Company United<\/p>\n
Excluded are \u201cflavored carbonated water,\u201d drinks, those \u201cthat contain milk or milk products, soy, rice, or similar milk substitutes,\u201d and beverages with \u201cequal to or greater than 50% of vegetable or fruit juice by volume.\u201d That means a drink like a smoothie containing sweeteners could be exempt if it also contains milk.<\/p>\n
Energy drinks\u00a0\u2014 or beverages \u201ccontaining a stimulant such as fortified caffeine, guarana, glucuronolactone, or taurine\u201d\u00a0\u2014 are also off limits. The definition includes both carbonated and noncarbonated products formulated to \u201cenhance energy, alertness, or physical performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shoppers can still buy black coffee, cold brew, lattes and other traditional coffee drinks, but not if they are enhanced with any kind of added vitamins or supplements for energy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Candy is now on the banned list for SNAP recipients.<\/p>\n
Staff photo by Ian McNulty <\/p>\n
Finally, candy is on the banned list and is defined as “a preparation of sugar, honey, or other natural or artificial sweeteners in combination with chocolate, fruits, nuts, or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops, or pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not included are \u201cprotein bars, granola bars or baking ingredients such as sprinkles, chocolate melting wafers, toffee bits, or chocolate chips.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Clif or KIND bar is allowed, but peanut M&Ms or chocolate-covered nuts are not.<\/p>\n
Bruce Greenstein, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, said that soda purchases alone account for about $350 million of the program\u2019s total cost of $1.9 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we eliminate that, we’re basically freeing up money for families to go ahead and buy better foods, whether it’s going to be rice and beans \u2026 meats, vegetables, dairy products \u2014 but more real food, rather than synthetic candies and drinks,\u201d Greenstein said.<\/p>\n
But some advocates who work to combat hunger worry the new SNAP restrictions could create confusion at the register.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can all envision somebody coming to the checkout counter ready to buy their groceries, and all of a sudden you can’t buy this, that and the other thing with the SNAP card,\u201d said John Sillars, chief strategy officer at Second Harvest Food Bank. \u201cI think that will be challenging for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sillars said his organization supports healthy eating, but the new rules \u201cwill mean some families are going to have fewer choices that align with their needs and budgets and the availability of items in nearby stores.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eating patterns are \u201cinfluenced by several factors, including access to food, education and affordability,\u201d he said, and should be paired with education and incentives for healthy purchases.<\/p>\n
Recent changes to SNAP at the federal level eliminated funding that would go toward nutrition education.<\/p>\n
Jessica Elliott, executive director of the Louisiana Retailers Association, said in an email that her members are concerned about the short timeline before the new rules take effect on Jan. 15, with \u201cmany operational changes to consider.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is a need for clear communication to avoid confusion at the register, she said, but \u201cretailers will continue to provide a positive shopping experience for SNAP customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s newly allowed<\/p>\n
For the first time, the state will also allow SNAP recipients to purchase rotisserie chicken, a shift from long-standing federal rules banning hot food under the program, Greenstein said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllowing rotisserie chicken or prepared food allows a parent on the way home from work to pick up foods that the kids could eat right there, instead of snack foods or sugar foods and pop,\u201d Greenstein said during the podcast.<\/p>\n
However, the waiver from the USDA specifically states it does not authorize hot foods or other changes to the program. It\u2019s not clear how Louisiana will implement that change. A representative for Landry did not respond to questions.<\/p>\n
Other grocery staples like meat, fresh and frozen fruits, and vegetables, grains, dairy and snacks like chips, crackers and ice cream are still available under the program.<\/p>\n
The USDA approved the waiver as a two-year demonstration project through Jan. 2028. The state will be required to submit quarterly reports tracking purchasing trends, complaints and health outcomes. The program can be renewed for an additional three years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Jeff Landry holds out a a letter to President Donald Trump and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":130016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[210,1141,1142,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-130015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}