Three-quarters of a million Louisiana residents currently receive food assistance each month through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). And going forward, they will no longer be able to use their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card to buy “certain non-nutritious foods,” which include soft drinks, energy drinks and candy. The new rules went into effect on Wednesday, February 18, 2026.
As the Louisiana Radio Network (LRN) reports, officials say the hope is to disincentivize SNAP recipients from buying unhealthy foods. The project aims to build healthier communities through better diets.
State officials have long expressed serious concerns about the rates of obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease, to name just a few. It’s little wonder then, why America’s Health Rankings by the United Health Foundation ranked Louisiana dead last for 2025.
Louisiana joins 17 other states, permitted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to restrict so-called “junk food” purchases on SNAP. That includes the four state region of:
· ARKANSAS
[Effective: 07/01/26]
* Restricts purchase of soda, fruit and vegetable drinks with less than 50% natural juice, unhealthy drinks, and candy.
* AR SNAP Waiver
· LOUISIANA
[In Effect Since: 02/18/26]
* Restricts purchase of soft drinks, energy drinks, and candy.
* Retailer Notice
* Webpage: LA SNAP Food Restriction Waiver
* Email (for retailers): LDH.SNAPRetailer@la.gov
* Email (for recipients): LAHELPU@la.gov
· OKLAHOMA
[In Effect Since: 02/15/25]
* Restricts purchase of soft drinks and candy.
* Retailer Notice
* Contact the state agency
· TEXAS
[Effective: 04/01/26]
* Restricts purchase of sweetened drinks and candy.
* Contact the state agency
The USDA announced that the list of banned items varies by state, and will affect roughly 14 million people in the 18 states granted the SNAP food-choice waivers; nearly all of those states have GOP-controlled governments.
Gina Plata-Nino, the SNAP director for the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), says these restrictions could make it harder for local grocery stores to offer SNAP. “You, you have to have different coding. You also have to spend more staff time with individuals to be able to do this. So it's additional cost to the retailers. So they're gonna say, this isn't worth it.” Plata-Nino adds that these new rules don’t take into account the circumstances of why people buy these items, like cost or lack of access to healthy foods.
But some critics of the junk food SNAP ban describe it as a recipe for chaos for several reasons. The National Retail Federation (NRF), for example, predicts longer checkout lines and more customer complaints as SNAP recipients learn which foods are affected by the ban. And an analysis by the National Grocers Association (NGA), estimated that implementing SNAP restrictions would cost U.S. retailers $1.6 billion, initially and $759 million each year going forward, largely because of the complexity of the task.
With all the expected time challenges involved, anticipated higher costs, not to mention USDA penalties against retailers making mistakes implementing the new SNAP restrictions, the director of government relations at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), Margaret Hardin Mannion, has said “I think there’s some real concern that it’s going to lead to many, many retailers being pushed out of the [SNAP] program.”
