Dr. Marion Nestle, longtime NYU professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health, with additional faculty roles at UC San Francisco and Cornell, is best known for analyzing the intersections of food, politics, and health, often exposing how government policy, corporate lobbying, and food industry marketing shape what we eat.
USDA is allowing states to ban sodas from SNAP: is this a good idea? Yes, if evaluated.
I thought I should say something about the new state bans on using SNAP benefit cards to buy sodas and other kinds of junk foods.
- More states ban soda and ‘junk food’ purchases from SNAP benefits: Varying restrictions add more confusion for food companies already struggling with slowing sales.This article points out that the bans vary in what they cover, and define candy and soft drinks in different ways. “Twelve states have now received approval to restrict benefits, with bans set to commence next year. The Department of Health and Human Services said the waivers aim to end the “subsidization of popular types of junk food.”
- Iowa, which has one of the most restrictive set of SNAP rules, is banning sugar-sweetened beverages that contain less than 50% juice, including sodas, energy drinks and flavored waters. The state is also restricting drink concentrates and powdered mix-ins.
The USDA has a web page devoted to SNAP Waivers (of existing rules governing what SNAP participants are allowed to buy).
Comments: I have long been in favor of pilot projects for banning sugar-sweetened beverages on SNAP (I was a member of the SNAP to Health Commission which issued a report in 2012).
- Sodas are composed of sugars and water and have calories but no other redeeming nutritional value.
- Even though we sympathized with the arguments that restrictions on purchases are condescending, we recommended pilot projects—along with research to evaluate them. Would the bans change purchasing habits? How would SNAP recipients feel about them?
- It’s pretty clear how retailers feel about them. Ouch. Reduced sales.
- The USDA turned down all requests for researchable pilot projects, ostensibly for logistical reasons. Whatever.
- Times have changed.
- USDA’s SNAP waivers do not require research, unfortunately. I hope somebody in those states does some before-and-after data collection.
I worry that the waivers will be used as wedges to further cut SNAP benefits. This one is a wait-and-see. Stay tuned.
The post USDA is allowing states to ban sodas from SNAP: is this a good idea? Yes, if evaluated. appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle.
Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University, which she chaired from 1988-2003 and from which she officially retired in September 2017. She is also Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. She earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology and an M.P.H. in public health nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley, and has been awarded honorary degrees from Transylvania University in Kentucky (2012) and from the City University of New York’s Macaulay Honors College (2016). In 2023, she was awarded The Edinburgh Medal (for science and society).
