USDA’s waiver table, updated October 2, 2026, now shows eight states where SNAP benefits no longer stretch to certain drinks and sweets. Indiana and Utah began on January 1. Idaho and Oklahoma followed on February 15, Louisiana on February 18, Texas on April 1, Florida on April 20 and Arkansas on July 1. Eleven more states are listed with start dates still ahead, and four others sit on the list as vacated by a federal court.
Each of the eight rewrote the federal definition of food for its own SNAP caseload, so a grocery receipt in Texas and one in Utah no longer follow the same rule.
What each of the eight excludes
The USDA SNAP food restriction waiver table lists the items state by state:
- Indiana (January 1, 2026): soft drinks and candy.
- Utah (January 1, 2026): soft drinks.
- Idaho (February 15, 2026): soda and candy.
- Oklahoma (February 15, 2026): soft drinks and candy.
- Louisiana (February 18, 2026): soft drinks, energy drinks and candy.
- Texas (April 1, 2026): sweetened drinks and candy.
- Florida (April 20, 2026): soda, energy drinks, candy and prepared desserts.
- Arkansas (July 1, 2026): soda, fruit and vegetable drinks with less than 50% natural juice, energy drinks, other unhealthy drinks and candy.
Utah is the narrowest, excluding only soft drinks while candy stays purchasable. Arkansas is the widest on beverages, reaching past soda to juice drinks that fall under half real juice.
For households in these states, what changes is concrete: the same SNAP balance covers a shorter list of items at the register, and the list depends on which state issued the card.
Definitions that changed after approval
Two of the eight adjusted what counts as restricted after USDA first signed off. USDA approved a change to Texas’s definition of “sweetened drinks” on February 25, 2026, according to the Texas page, which also puts the end of that project at March 31, 2028. Arkansas received approval on May 12, 2026 to modify its restricted food and beverage definitions, as its USDA page records, seven weeks before its July 1 start.
Both pages describe two-year demonstration projects, and Texas’s runs through March 31, 2028.
The states that are approved but not yet restricting
The count of eight is a count of restrictions in force on the date the table was read, not of approvals. USDA lists Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia with November 1, 2026 starts. Nebraska’s row gives December 1, 2026, with candy added March 1, 2027. Wyoming starts February 1, 2027, Kansas and Missouri February 15, 2027, Hawaii April 1, 2027 and Nevada February 1, 2028. Those eleven are listed as approved, with nothing yet changed at checkout.
Nebraska’s row carries a caveat. USDA’s separate Nebraska page, also updated October 2, says a June 22 court order vacated approval of that state’s waiver, and USDA is working on a new Nebraska request filed September 1. Nebraska is not among the eight either way.
The table’s approval column reads only “Approved,” so it does not distinguish a state that has finished its retailer rollout from one that has not.
A June court order and a comment window on two of the eight
The same USDA page carries a notice that a June 22, 2026 federal court ruling vacated USDA’s approvals for Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee and West Virginia, halting their implementation. Covington & Burling’s analysis of the decision reports the court holding that Congress defined what food is and “did not authorize the agency to amend or waive the definition it enacted,” and says the ruling may also affect other waivers and future requests. The firm adds that it was unclear whether USDA or the states would appeal. None of the eight states in force appears among the vacated four on USDA’s table.
Two of the eight are also in a public comment period. In its September 15 Federal Register notices, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Administration opened dockets FNA-2026-0301 for Idaho and FNA-2026-0313 for Utah, with written comments due on or before October 15, 2026 through regulations.gov. Shiela Corley, the acting FNA administrator, is named as the contact for both. The Idaho notice recites approval on June 10, 2025 and the February 15, 2026 modified start date, and cites section 17(b) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 as the authority for the project.
Where SNAP rules split by state
The eight restriction lists in this piece differ in items, in start date and in how far each definition reaches, and that patchwork sits alongside the recertification dates, reporting rules and paperwork each SNAP household also handles. The news here changes what a SNAP balance buys at the register, but it leaves the rest of a state’s SNAP calendar exactly where it was.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer includes 51 state packs, a renewal document checklist and a renewal and reporting calendar for keeping a household’s SNAP paperwork in one place.
See how The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer lays out each state’s SNAP rules →
This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the dates and items were checked against USDA’s food restriction waiver table updated October 2, 2026 and the September 15 Federal Register notices.
