Six more states have joined the growing list Food choice waivers have been approved nationwide for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that will prevent benefits from being used on certain processed foods and beverages.
On Wednesday, the US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced approval for Hawai’i, Missouri, North Dakota, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee to “modify the legal definition of ‘food for purchase'” under the federal program in 2026.
This brings to 18 the list of states approved for SNAP food choice waivers under the Make America Healthy Again initiative.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joins Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins during the announcement of a $700 million pilot program to support regenerative agriculture at the Department of Agriculture, December 10, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
These waivers allow states to modify what recipients can use food assistance benefits, known colloquially as food stamps, for at the grocery store.
“President Trump has made it clear: We are restoring SNAP to its true purpose: nutrition. Under the MAHA initiative, we are taking bold and historic steps to reverse the chronic disease epidemic that has been entrenched in this country for too long,” Rollins said in the announcement.
“America’s governors are answering that call with courage and innovation, offering solutions that honor taxpayer generosity while helping families live longer, healthier lives. With these new waivers, we are empowering states to lead, protecting our children from the dangers of highly processed foods and moving us one step closer to the President’s promise to make America healthy again,” Rollins added.
RFK Jr. thanked the governors of the 18 states who he said “are leading SNAP reform to restore the health of Americans, especially our children.”
Shelves with crackers, crackers and candy inside a Publix Super Markets Inc. grocery store in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 5, 2014.
Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“We cannot continue a system that forces taxpayers to fund programs that make people sick and then pay a second time to treat the diseases those same programs help create,” he said.
In August, Rollins and Health and RFK Jr. announced restrictions on the purchase of so-called “junk food” with SNAP funds in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado, Florida and West Virginia starting in 2026.
Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Utah received SNAP reform waivers earlier this year.
On his first day in office, Rollins announced an “Innovation Labs” initiative that encourages governors to introduce “state-led solutions to strengthen federal nutrition programs and protect taxpayer resources,” the USDA said.
