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SNAP bans on soda, candy and other foods take effect in five states Jan. 1 (apnews.com)

submitted 1 day ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world

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Starting Thursday, Americans in five states who get government help paying for groceries will see new restrictions on soda, candy and other foods they can buy with those benefits.

Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah and West Virginia are the first of at least 18 states to enact waivers prohibiting the purchase of certain foods through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

It’s part of a push by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to urge states to strip foods regarded as unhealthy from the $100 billion federal program -- long known as food stamps -- that serves 42 million Americans.

“We cannot continue a system that forces taxpayers to fund programs that make people sick and then pay a second time to treat the illnesses those very programs help create,” Kennedy said in a statement in December.

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[–] painteddoggie@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Junk food is far, far cheaper than "healthy" food. So unless prices come down on the healthy food, this is going to simply reduce the amount of food people on snap can buy. Obviously eating junk food is bad, but its better than not eating.

[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago

That's a fair point.