Nutritious SNAP Act of 2025
Nutritious SNAP Act of 2025 is a Senate bill introduced by Senator Rand Paul. It makes two broad changes to the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) statute: (1) it redefines what counts as “food” for SNAP purchases, and (2) it creates a new, state-level option to prohibit certain foods from being bought with SNAP benefits if those foods are deemed “unhealthy” by the state nutrition agency. Specifically, the bill broadens the types of beverages and snack/dessert items that can count as SNAP-eligible food, while also allowing states to request permission to ban purchases of foods the state determines to be unhealthy. The net effect could be more items eligible for SNAP in some cases (e.g., most non-water beverages and certain snacks/desserts) but also new state-authorized restrictions on purchases of other items.
Key Points
- 1Expanded definition of food: The definition would include most nonalcoholic beverages that are not water, cow’s milk, a milk-substitute, or 100 percent juice, as well as snack and dessert items described in the Food and Nutrition Service’s Accessory Foods List (a 2018 guidance list). This broadens what SNAP participants could use benefits to buy beyond traditional staple foods.
- 2Waiver for unhealthy foods (state-level): The bill adds a new provision allowing a state nutrition agency to determine certain foods as “unhealthy,” and upon request, the Secretary would permit the state to prohibit SNAP purchases of those foods. This introduces state-by-state discretion to restrict what can be bought with benefits.
- 3Connection to home consumption: The definition of “food” would be read as “home consumption, subject to section 11(y),” tying eligibility to the new state waivers and limitations on unhealthy foods.
- 4Reference to existing guidance: The snack/dessert items are tied to the 2018 Accessory Foods List, giving a defined, preexisting scope to what counts as eligible snacks or desserts.
- 5Policy intent and tensions: By expanding eligible categories while allowing state bans on unhealthy foods, the bill seeks to promote nutrition but could produce mixed effects across states and for SNAP participants, depending on local interpretations of “unhealthy” and the items included in the Accessory Foods List.