Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he hopes to expand state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program waivers to limit purchases of ultra-processed foods.
On Tuesday, Kennedy joined Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins as she signed three new waivers allowing Arkansas, Utah and Idaho to restrict SNAP purchases of soda. This brings the total number of states with approved waivers to six.
Other states, including Colorado, Kansas, West Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Florida and Louisiana, have submitted applications that the agency is working to approve.
USDA has already approved waivers in Indiana, Iowa and Nebraska.
The bulk of these waivers would allow states to pilot programs restricting SNAP participants from using their benefits to buy soda, energy drinks or candy. The Iowa waiver is more expansive, limiting SNAP purchases to foods the state doesn’t tax. This would restrict soda and candy as well as fruit strips, granola bars and some trail mix.
Kennedy noted that most of the waivers have targeted sodas exclusively, but the administration wants to eventually expand those categories to include other items, including ultra-processed foods. However, he recognized that is going to be a lengthy process. Kennedy did not specify what foods could be included in future waivers.
In addition to restricting some purchases, the now-approved Arkansas waiver includes an expansion to allow SNAP benefits to be used for hot rotisserie chickens. Rollins said this is a significant pivot from previous policy and is something the agency is still working on, but that USDA is moving in that direction.
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Some members of Congress have long pushed for SNAP pilot programs to restrict soda or other “unhealthy” food purchases. However, those have traditionally faced resistance 
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks to reporters at a press conference and SNAP waiver signing in her office. From left to right with her: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, and Rep. Jim Baird, R-Ind. (Agri-Pulse photo)from both Democrats, Republicans, anti-hunger groups and food industry leaders.
The Food Industry Association (FMI) said the patchwork policies forming through these state waivers can have significant consequences for grocery stores and consumers by adding complexity to the program.
“This is uncharted territory for SNAP and would increase costs, complicate a highly efficient nationwide system shoppers rely on, and create a slippery slope of state-by-state variation that undermines the program’s foundation,” FMI wrote in a recent blog post.
Rollins and Kennedy also said they are hoping to release the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans in the “next month or two.” They emphasized that these guidelines will be short and digestible for people to understand, with Kennedy suggesting they could be “four or five pages.”
While she did not provide specifics, Rollins said the two agencies are “looking at everything” when it comes to the guidelines.
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