SNAP Healthy Food Retailers

The changes will take effect on April 20, 2026.

Florida made this change to better align SNAP with its intended purpose: providing low-income households access to a more nutritious diet to help alleviate hunger and combat malnutrition. By excluding soda, energy drinks, candy, and ultra-processed shelf-stable prepared desserts, the state is taking a proactive step to ensure SNAP benefits are used for more nourishing foods.

• Soda – including regular, diet and artificially sweetened soda.
• "Energy drinks" are drinks that contain 65 milligrams or more of caffeine per 8 ounces and are marketed to boost energy or alertness (like Monster™, Red Bull™, and Celsius™).
• Candy – including chocolate bars, gummies, licorice, hard candies, and similar items.
• Ultra-processed prepared desserts – ultra-processed, shelf-stable, pre-packaged sweet foods that are ready-to-eat such as snack cakes (like Twinkies®, Ho Hos®, and Swiss Rolls), packaged sweets (like Sno Balls® and Oatmeal Creme Pies®), and other products from brands like Little Debbie, Entenmann’s and Tastykake.

"Soda" refers to beverages made with carbonated water that are sweetened with added sugars or artificial sweeteners.

Examples include regular and diet sodas and zero sugars like: Coca-Cola®, Sprite®, Diet Coke®, Mr. Pibb®, Coke Zero®, Sprite Zero®, Pepsi®, 7UP®, Diet Pepsi®, Dr. Pepper®, and Canada Dry®. This also includes store brand varieties of regular, diet, and zero sugar sodas.

SNAP benefits can still be used to purchase sports drinks like Gatorade® and Powerade®, plain or naturally flavored sparkling waters such as LaCroix®, Waterloo®, Polar®, and Bubly®, or drinks that contain more than 50% juice or have less than 5 grams of added sugar per serving.

"Energy drinks" are drinks that contain 65 milligrams or more of caffeine per 8 ounces and are marketed to boost energy or alertness. Examples include Monster^™, Red Bull^™, Celsius^™, 5-Hour Energy®, C4 Energy®. This also includes store brand varieties of energy drinks.

Coffee, tea, and sports drinks like Gatorade® or Powerade® are not considered energy drinks and can still be purchased with SNAP benefits.

"Candy" includes products made from sugar or artificial sweeteners combined with chocolate, fruit, nuts, caramel, gummies, and hard candies or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops, or pieces.

This includes bars like Hershey’s®, Snickers®, Nestle Crunch®, Ferrero Rocher®, and Milky Way®, gummies like Haribo®, Sour Patch Kids®, Annie’s Fruit Snacks®, and Twizzlers®, hard candies like Jolly Ranchers®, Lifesavers®, and lollipops, candy pieces like M&M's®, Starburst®, and Skittles®, and items like chocolate-covered nuts, toffee, and mints. This also includes store brand varieties of candy.

Trail mix containing candy, as defined above, is considered candy and is not an allowable purchase.

Granola bars, breakfast toaster strudels, breakfast biscuits like BelVita, and breakfast toaster pastries like Pop-Tarts® can still be purchased with SNAP benefits, even when they contain sweeteners or chocolate.

"Ultra-processed prepared desserts" means a processed, shelf-stable, ready-to-eat, pre-packaged sweet food intended for immediate consumption without any further preparation. This would include foods mostly made out of "chemically" modified substances extracted from foods, along with additives to enhance taste, texture, appearance, and durability, with minimal whole foods.

This includes snack cakes like Twinkies®, Ho Hos®, and Swiss Rolls, packaged sweets like Sno Balls®, Oatmeal Creme Pies®, Market Pantry Golden Crème Cakes®, and Baker’s Treat Cup Cakes®. This includes cookies like Chips Ahoy!®, Keebler Chips Deluxe®, Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies®, Market Pantry Chocolate Chip Cookies®, Oreos®, Benton’s Original Chocolate Sandwich Cookies®, and Great Value Twist & Shout Cookies®. This also includes store brand varieties of prepared desserts that meet the defined restrictions.

Granola bars, breakfast toaster strudels, breakfast biscuits like Belvita, and breakfast toaster pastries like Pop-Tarts® can still be purchased with SNAP benefits, even when they contain sweeteners or chocolate.

Freshly prepared baked goods can still be purchased with SNAP benefits.

This change only impacts SNAP benefits used in Florida. Other states may exclude the same or different items. Retailers should remain engaged with each state’s SNAP agency for additional information.

The specific steps may vary depending on your POS system. Consult your system's manual or support resources for detailed instructions to ensure system changes are implemented by April 20, 2026.

All SNAP retailers in Florida are required to implement these changes.

When an online SNAP order is packed in a walk in store, the retailer must follow the SNAP food rules for the state where that store is located. For example, if the store is in Florida, the retailer must apply Florida’s SNAP food restrictions.

When an order is packed in a warehouse that customers cannot enter—whether the customer chooses delivery or pickup—the retailer must follow the SNAP food rules for the state that issued the customer’s EBT card. If the customer’s EBT card was issued in Florida, the retailer must apply Florida’s SNAP food restrictions. The retailer determines the customer’s state of issuance using the Bank Identification Number on the EBT card.

The USDA provides additional guidance on SNAP food restriction waivers and retailer compliance.

The Department will communicate these changes to SNAP recipients through various communication channels. As a USDA-approved SNAP retailer, you play a key role in helping us make these changes successful by communicating with your customers.