Feds approve Tennessee’s SNAP waivers excluding soda, sugary foods from benefits

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved a request from Gov. Bill Lee that will prohibit SNAP recipients from using funds to buy sugary foods. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Tennesseans who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will no longer be able to use those benefits to purchase soda and sugary processed foods after Trump administration officials approved the state’s waivers Wednesday.

Under these waivers, SNAP benefits cannot be used to purchase items that list sugar, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup or similar caloric alternatives as the first ingredient. The waivers also exclude beverages in which carbonated water and sugar, high-fructose corn syrup or similar caloric alternatives are the first two ingredients.

The waivers also allow Tennessee SNAP recipients to purchase hot prepared chicken, including rotisserie chicken and “non-fried, non-breaded items like grilled chicken tenders.”

Gov. Bill Lee requested the waivers from the federal government in August.

Nearly 734,000 Tennesseans received about $1.4 billion in SNAP benefits in fiscal year 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The average monthly benefit in Tennessee is $161 per person.

The waivers, approved by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are part of the administration’s Make America Healthy Again initiative. The USDA has now approved waivers for 18 states, including Hawaii, Missouri, North Dakota, South Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, Colorado, Louisiana, West Virginia, Florida, Nebraska, Idaho, Oklahoma, Indiana, Texas and Tennessee.

“With these new waivers, we are empowering states to lead, protecting our children from the dangers of highly-processed foods, and moving one step closer to the President’s promise to Make America Healthy Again,” Rollins stated in a news release.