Texas food stamp households have shopped under a new purchase limit since the spring. Sweetened drinks and candy no longer count as food that SNAP benefits can buy in the state. The limit follows a federal waiver that USDA approved for a two-year term.

The waiver is one of 23 state food restriction entries on USDA’s list, and Texas sits among those whose approval stands. Four other states have a court order against theirs, which makes the status of each state’s row worth knowing.

The question for a Texas household is what an EBT card can still buy. The waiver removes two categories and leaves the rest of the grocery list alone.

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April 1 started a two-year waiver

USDA’s Texas waiver page carries the approval letter, which says the approval, subject to enclosed terms and conditions, is for two years, effective April 1, 2026. That sets the end near April 2028 unless USDA extends or ends it sooner.

The letter changes the definition of SNAP-eligible food, which had been any food or food product for home consumption, to exclude sweetened drinks and candy. The summary table lists the same April 1, 2026 target implementation date and describes the request as restricting sweetened drinks and candy.

The page was last updated on October 2, 2026, and its status log shows the waiver was requested in June 2025, approved on August 4, 2025, and modified in early 2026.

The definition of sweetened drinks changed once

The Texas page logs a modification. A request to change the waiver was submitted on January 23, 2026, and USDA approved it on February 25, 2026, to modify the definition of “sweetened drinks.”

The page does not print the new wording. The modified definition sits in the linked terms and conditions and the modification approval, which means the exact line between a restricted drink and an allowed one is set in those documents and not in the summary.

The page does not define candy either, so shoppers get the practical answer at the register, where the state’s product list decides what is blocked. Retailers received their own notice, which USDA links from the table.

Where Texas sits among the 23 waivers

USDA’s food restriction waiver table shows 23 states with entries. Four of them, Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee and West Virginia, carry a court entry saying that on June 22, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in Aragon et al. v. Rollins et al., ordered USDA’s approval of each waiver vacated and said implementation may not proceed.

Texas has no court entry. Its row lists April 1, 2026 as the target date and a request to restrict sweetened drinks and candy, and the table was last updated on October 13, 2026.

A different pattern shows up in Louisiana, where USDA’s state page lists soft drinks, energy drinks and candy as restricted and moves its start to February 18, 2026. Each state’s list is its own, so a household that moves or shops across a border needs the list for the state where the card is used.

What the limit changes and what it leaves alone

A restricted item cannot be bought with the EBT card, but the rest of the order can. Groceries outside the two categories remain eligible, and the monthly benefit amount is not reduced by the waiver.

The limit also does not change recertification. Renewal dates, reporting duties and work rules run on their own schedules, and a household that loses track of one can lose the whole benefit, a far larger loss than a blocked bottle of soda.

The two-year term gives the limit a built-in review date, around April 2028, and USDA has not said what happens after that. Until then, the Texas page and the summary table are the places where changes show up first.

What can a Texas EBT card still buy, and which dates still decide whether the benefit continues?

The Texas waiver has run since April 1 and carries a two-year term, but the benefit itself depends on renewal and reporting dates that the waiver does not touch. A household that tracks the drink and candy list and misses a recertification can lose the whole card.

The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer covers SNAP recertification, the senior rules that raise the benefit and the work-rule time limit and who is exempt. It adds 51 state packs, a renewal document checklist and a renewal and reporting calendar.

Get the state-by-state organizer with the SNAP renewal calendar for Texas →

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.