Judge strikes down SNAP bans on soft drinks, candy
by Darryl Coote · UPIJune 23 (UPI) -- A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration cannot allow states to bar federal food assistance recipients from using their benefits to buy soft drinks, snacks and candy, finding the Agriculture Department lacked the authority to approves such restrictions.
About 42.1 million low-income individuals across the nation receive federal food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP, which allows recipients to use the benefits to purchase most foods, excluding alcohol, tobacco and hot prepared foods.
Amid soaring obesity rates across the United States, 22 states received waivers from the Trump administration to exempt certain foods and beverages from the federal definition of food to ban SNAP recipients from using the benefit to purchase these items. Though the waivers vary by state, they all target high-calorie, sugary foods, such as soft drinks, energy drinks, candy and others.
In March, five SNAP recipients in Colorado, Iowa, West Virginia, Tennessee and Nebraska sued the Trump administration over its approval of waivers, saying the restrictions were vague, complicated and counterintuitive, causing significant confusion for both them and retailers, while harming SNAP recipients who rely on sugary beverages to manage chronic health conditions, such as diabetes.
In her ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson found the Agriculture Department's waivers violated the Administrative Procedure Act, stating the department acted in excess of its authority and without following public input noticed procedures as required by law.
"The secretary purports to waive not just a mere administrative or technical obstacle, but the very definition of 'food' as it was laid down by Congress," the President Barack Obama appointee wrote in her 68-page ruling.
"Neither the USDA nor the states can force this square peg into a round hole to avoid the plain language of the statute and the requirement of 2026(k)," which requires SNAP projects to be consistent with the program's food-assistance purpose.
The National Center for Law and Economic Justice, which filed the lawsuit, celebrated Monday's ruling as "a major step in restoring essential food assistance to the millions of families that rely on SNAP nationwide."
"This decision makes clear that the USDA cannot bypass the legal guardrails that establish how SNAP must operate across the country," Katie Deabler, senior attorney at the NCLEJ, said in a statement.
"It affirms that families deserve a program that works without confusion."