SNACKS are under attack by SNAP, as a new law imposed on several states limit how you spend your money.
Everyday snacks, from candy to dried fruit, can no longer be bought with SNAP benefits – and shoppers are furious.
Snacks are under attack by SNAP, as a new law imposed on several states limit how you spend your money[/caption]
Sweeping changes to SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, will now dictate how you spend the benefits you are eligible to receive.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently announced that SNAP recipients could no longer spend the money on soda, which received fierce criticism from many in the industry.
Several states have signed onto this change, including West Virginia, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
The Health Secretary said: “For years, SNAP has used taxpayer dollars to fund soda and candy — products that fuel America’s diabetes and chronic disease epidemics.
“These waivers help put real food back at the center of the program and empower states to lead the charge in protecting public health.
“I thank these governors who have stepped up to request waivers, and I encourage others to follow their lead.
“This is how we Make America Healthy Again.”
NO MORE FRUIT
Now, on the social media platform Reddit, a resident in Iowa has revealed just how far the state’s SNAP cuts could go.
Referencing Iowa‘s proposal for its own changes to SNAP, recipients would no longer be banned from buying just soda.
You would no longer be able to purchase dried fruit, nuts, honey, Granola bars, kettle corn, artificially sweetened water or root beer.
The user captioned the post: “It seems like people are focusing a lot on things like candy and soda, but I think that does a disservice and downplays the bans and their potential.
“The candy and soda is a start, but they’re not necessarily the end.
“For instance, this list of examples from Iowa‘s initiative isn’t limited to things like Hershey, KitKat, marshmallows, and Coca-Cola.”
Under the terms of the Iowa proposal, shoppers would not be able to spend SNAP benefits on:
- Candy, candy-coated items, and candy products, including gum, candy primarily intended for decorating baked goods, and hard or soft candies including jellybeans, taffy, licorice, and mints and breath mints
- Dried fruit leathers or other similar products prepared with natural or artificial sweeteners
- Sweetened baking chocolate in bars, pieces, or chips
- Fruits, nuts, or other ingredients in combination with sugar, chocolate, honey, or other natural or artificial sweeteners in the form of bars, drops, or pieces
- Caramel wraps, caramel or other candy coated apples or other fruit; sweetened coconut, marshmallows; Granola bars, unless they contain flour
- Ready-to-eat caramel corn, kettle corn, and other candy-coated popcorn
- Carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, including but not limited to colas, ginger ale, near-beer, root beer, lemonade, orangeade
- All other drinks or punches with natural fruit or vegetable juice which contain 50 percent or less by volume natural fruit or vegetable juice; a typical example is Hi-C
- Beverage mixes and ingredients intended to be made into taxable beverages; liquid or frozen, concentrated or non-concentrated, dehydrated, powdered, granulated, sweetened or unsweetened, seasoned or unseasoned
- Concentrates intended to be made into beverages which contain 50 percent or less by volume natural fruit or vegetable juice
- Sweetened naturally or artificially sweetened water
SHOPPER FURY
In the comments of the post, Reddit users unleashed their anger on the Iowa proposal.
New SNAP rules
In a newly proposed change to SNAP benefits, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced that you will no longer be able to purchase soda with the money attained from SNAP.
Currently, the states signed on include West Virginia, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
Soda is defined in the law as “any carbonated non-alcoholic beverage that contains water, a sweetening agent, flavoring, and carbon dioxide gas to create carbonation.”
Iowa is trying to take this a few steps further, with a proposal that would prohibit SNAP beneficiaries from using the money to buy a whole range of other food and rink products.
Kennedy Jr. has said that this is a key part of making America healthy again, but it has received intense scrutiny from industry figures.
The organization Americans for Food and Beverage Choice said: “Restricting what one segment of the population can buy at the grocery store just because they need temporary government assistance goes against American values.
“These proposals treat families and veterans as second-class citizens.
“In times like these, families don’t need one more person telling them what they can and cannot do.
“But more restrictions would put us on a slippery slope where bureaucrats get to annually decide which foods and beverages some Americans are allowed to serve their families.”
One person wrote: “Nah I’m glad that we’re caught up on the things that matter.
“Like deciding what people can or can’t eat when they need help from the taxes they’ve been paying into their whole working lives.”
Another claqimed: “The main problem with this list is that it is extremely confusing and random.
“This is going to cause so many issues at checkout. I dont know how they think this is going to work.”
And a third said: “This is so dumb. We should be progressing as a society not regressing.
“Let people buy what they want with their benefits. Micro managing like this aint it.
“Providing people with more help with jobs and other resources is where the focus should be.
“Getting off assistance is where the focus should be.
“Better health care and mental health care is where it’s at. But ofc those are being taken away too.
“This is an absolute failure and embarrassment.”
