Judge rules government can’t stop SNAP dollars from buying candy and sugary drinks
The federal judge said Congress imposed no such limits on the nation’s largest food aid program.
The ruling scuttles restrictions on candy, soda and other sugary drinks in the federally funded and state-run Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 23 states. The Trump administration hasn’t announced an appeal.
“The federal defendants and the states may have a genuine desire to improve the health of SNAP households by encouraging healthy choices at the store, and they can take lawful steps to meet those goals,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote. “But what they cannot do is violate the law and their own regulations along the way.”
Seeking to encourage healthier food choices, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign has sought to take soda and candy off the menu because they fuel obesity, diabetes and chronic disease.
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