{"id":61458,"date":"2026-01-22T14:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=61458"},"modified":"2026-01-22T14:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:13:17","slug":"florida-snap-recipients-will-not-be-able-to-buy-these-foods-starting-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/01\/22\/florida-snap-recipients-will-not-be-able-to-buy-these-foods-starting-april\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida SNAP recipients will not be able to buy these foods starting April\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Changes will be coming down the line for Florida SNAP benefit recipients this coming spring, affecting what they can purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"909f93\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #909f93;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/download-6-2.webp?resize=275%2C183&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61459 not-transparent\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, soda, energy drinks, candy, and ultra-processed shelf-stable prepared desserts will no longer be available for purchase under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The department said it made the changes to ensure that SNAP benefits were being used for more nutritious foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFlorida 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,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/healthysnap.myflfamilies.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a statement on the department\u2019s website said.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the Healthy Snap policy will restrict a wide range of products, the following items can still be purchased with SNAP benefits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Plain or naturally flavored sparkling water (Ex: LaCroix, Waterloo, Polar, and Bubly)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Drinks with over 50% juice or less than 5 grams of added sugar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Coffee and tea<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fresh baked goods (These are different from ultra-processed sweets that are made \u201cout of \u2018chemically\u2019 modified substances extracted from foods, along with additives to enhance taste, texture, appearance, and durability, with minimal whole foods.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the new policy, SNAP retailers will update their point-of-sale providers to block the restricted items from being purchased through the benefits. The state also said retailers will need to ensure their staff is trained to handle customer questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The changes will officially take effect on April 20, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The state of Florida received USDA approval in August 2025 to implement these changes for a two-year period, beginning on Jan 1. 2026. If the state wishes to continue the current policy beyond Dec. 31, 2027, it must file a request by June 30, 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Florida is not the only state implementing these restrictions.&nbsp;Seventeen other states were granted waivers&nbsp;to redefine what foods could be purchased with SNAP funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Changes will be coming down the line for Florida SNAP benefit recipients this coming spring, affecting what they can purchase. According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, soda,&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDFcL2Rvd25sb2FkLTYtMi53ZWJwP2ZpdD0yNzUlMkMxODMmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJGbG9yaWRhIFNOQVAgcmVjaXBpZW50cyB3aWxsIG5vdCBiZSBhYmxlIHRvIGJ1eSB0aGVzZSBmb29kcyBzdGFydGluZyBBcHJpbFx1MDBhMCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.9MW5Ccg3gK1l2e2VU3L89kNFRCCXwpVZYt8kSAF2nnYMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":61459,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/download-6-2.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[13298],"class_list":["post-61458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-florida-snap-recipients-will-not-be-able-to-buy-these-foods-starting-april"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61460,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61458\/revisions\/61460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}