Florida started a new two-year, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) pilot, built around healthy eating purchases. It's one of eight states leading the charge.
A trip to the grocery store looks a lot different for millions of Florida SNAP recipients, as soda, candy, and energy drinks are now off the list.
The new crackdown comes thanks to a new pilot program, which allows states to block the purchases of certain goods under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Florida is among the first states to act on that authority, targeting what officials describe as unhealthy food and beverage options.
News 6 visited United Against Poverty in Orlando, where many customers are SNAP recipients.
“I believe they’re trying to keep our society healthier,” said SNAP recipient Jeff Conyers.
Some recipients told News 6 that they are concerned about additional limitations without increasing access to healthier options.
“I go to the corner store. I go to the gas station to buy stuff like that, so it’s going to impact a lot of lives,” said SNAP recipient Beverly Oduola.
As you might well imagine, there's been some fierce pushback already to folks who have been used to buying whatever they wanted with their SNAP EBT card.
The initial howling kind of reminded me of some of my favorite protests.
Millions of terrified voices cried out...
WHY DID RON DESANTIS DO THIS TO ME?!?!?!?
...and were suddenly silenced for lack of Little Debbies.
The program data and results are going to be tracked for the next two years.
...The waiver governing these new restrictions will remain in effect for two years, through April 19, 2028. During that time, state officials are required to track and report on the outcomes of the program — data that could shape the future of SNAP policy both in Florida and beyond.
I hope everyone survives like they did when Florida changed the sex on drivers' licenses back to simply male or female.
The sign says “Ron DeSantis killed me”.
— Country Will🇺🇸 (@will_m1399) February 10, 2024
Why?
Because Florida is requiring biological sex on drivers licenses!
It’s the classic left crying “People will literally DIE!!”
Imagine thinking your life will end over your ID having an M or F on it to reflect your biological sex. pic.twitter.com/InXxkPblQ1
And the changes really aren't horrendously radical, and nowhere near as restrictive as the original Food Stamp program was when I worked at our local grocery store as a teenager. This is what's prohibited.
- Soda
- Energy Drinks
- Candy
- Ultra-processed Prepared Desserts
And quite frankly, I'm really surprised by what's still allowed. It used to be, granted decades ago, that Food Stamps would buy you everything you needed to bake, say, um, brownies, except for the chocolate, but you couldn't buy the brownies themselves.
It sort of looks as if you can buy brownies, as long as they're from a bakery and not Hostess-like, shelf-stable packaged treats. And good grief - I've never known a breakfast toaster strudel to be beneficial for anyone, so these are pretty liberal.
- Fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, dairy and other staples that support a balanced diet
- Sport drinks, plain or naturally flavored sparkling waters and drinks that contain more than 50% juice or have less than 5 grams of added sugar per serving
- Coffee, tea, and sports drinks
- Granola bars, breakfast toaster strudels, breakfast biscuits and breakfast toaster pastries
- Freshly prepared baked goods
The Florida legislature has duked it out over new work requirements for both SNAP and Medicaid recipients, too, but was never able to reconcile the two versions between the House and the State Senate into a single bill. So nothing was done on that front.
There will be no work requirements for 111,0000 low-income people who rely on Medicaid for their health care.
About 76,900 people who rely on the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) for their food security between the ages of 19 and 64 who don’t have children under age 14 at home won’t be required to attend employment and training courses to keep their benefits.
At least for now.
In the dysfunction that was the 2026 regular legislative session, the Republican-led House and Senate couldn’t negotiate the differences between their bills — HB 693 and SB 1758, respectively — to update Florida statutes to comply with the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBA, also known as H.R. 1.
The signature legislation for President Donald Trump reduces Medicaid spending by an estimated $800 billion to $1 trillion over the next decade and keeps intact tax cuts initially passed by Trump in 2017 that were set to expire last year.
“It is really unfortunate,” Sen. Don Gaetz, a Crestview Republican and SB 1758 sponsor told the Phoenix.
The bills would have gone beyond what the OBBA demanded.
And they still have to come back in June to polish off some of the mess.
...Because the Legislature couldn’t reach an agreement on the one, must-pass bill of the session, the budget, or General Appropriations Act, members will have to return to Tallahassee in a special session before the end of June. When asked whether the Medicaid bills will resurface then, Gaetz seemed doubtful.
“It’s always dangerous, I think, to try to do policy in the budget process. It’s cleaner to do policy and then do a budget that serves the policy,” Gaetz said.
Maybe next year they won't be such a collection of posturing spazz cases. Hope springs eternal.
In any event, clearing out the easy stuff like the candy and soda is a good start.
Just a reminder: it's called the Supplemental NUTRITION Assistance Program. This is simply righting a wrong committed by the idiots who decided that anything at a grocery store qualifies as nutrition, and that the rest of us should pay for it.
— Steve J. (@nicagator) April 20, 2026
...Fox & Friends: “Florida is now 1 of 8 states, including Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas, to enforce these laws. With a handful of other states also expected to sign similar laws in the coming months.”
Common sense!
And Gatorade is still allowed, even if Arizona Tea is not.
Beege ADDS: Just stumbled across this update from the Department of Agriculture related to the same subject, and it was pretty cheerful. Thought I'd share it, too.
Since October 01, @USDA_FNS has disqualified 1,562 retailers and disabled 760 illegal point of sale devices, resulting in THE PREVENTION of nearly $835M in fraudulent SNAP transactions.
— Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden (@DepSecVaden) April 17, 2026
Commit fraud? We will find you and hold you accountable. Including jail time.
And now, we…
...We will find you and hold you accountable. Including jail time.
And now, we have the whole of government, under the leadership of @VP and @AFergusonFTC, rooting out abuse of any program meant to help the most vulnerable.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member