Governor Sarah Huckabee Sander has submitted a waiver to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announcing her plan to ban soft drinks and candy from Arkansas’ Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The ban is part of the Governor’s attempt to prevent obesity and diabetes. SNAP is a $119 billion federal program and around 23% of SNAP spending goes toward soft drinks, unhealthy snacks, candy and desserts. One-third of Arkansans have diabetes or pre-diabetes and a study from Stanford found that banning sugary drinks from food stamps could prevent obesity in 141,000 kids and type 2 diabetes in 240,000 adults.
Governor Sanders says “President Trump and his administration have put a laser focus on solving America’s chronic disease epidemic and reforming our food stamp program is a great place to start. Banning soft drinks and candy from food stamps will remove some of the least healthy, most processed foods from the program and encourage low-income Arkansans to eat better. Arkansas leads the nation in common-sense, conservative reforms and I was proud to work with Secretary Rollins to make this move and take a strong first step toward broader changes to our food stamp program.”
In addition to banning soft drinks and candy from SNAP, the waiver also requests to add rotisserie chicken to the list of eligible SNAP benefits. The State plans to use the GS1 US food categorization system to implement these policy changes.
Department of Human Services Secretary Kristi Putnam says “Helping Arkansans improve their health is a top priority for our agency across all programs, and encouraging people to use their SNAP benefits for healthier foods is an important step that we believe will be truly beneficial to the people we serve. This reform will put more nutritious option on the tables of more than 100,000 households across Arkansas who receive SNAP benefits every month. We are eager to implement these changes, and appreciate Governor Sanders’ leadership and USDA Secretary Rollins’ support as we work to better the health of our entire state.”
To view the waiver, click here.
To view the Governor’s letter, click here.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI