Many Americans are stunned to learn that under current federal law, people receiving SNAP benefits can use taxpayer-funded EBT cards to buy candy, soda, ice cream, and even chewing gum. It’s true — and it’s been that way for decades. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, defines “eligible food” broadly as any food or drink intended for home consumption. That sweeping definition means nearly every processed snack or sugary beverage in the grocery store qualifies.
Under current rules, SNAP covers not only basic groceries like fruits, vegetables, and meat — but also cookies, brownies, snack cakes, muffins, pies, pastries, doughnuts, pudding, and frozen desserts like ice cream, custard, sorbet, and gelato. Candy of all kinds is eligible too, including chocolate bars, gummies, toffee, fudge, caramels, mints, and gum. Sugary beverages are also fully allowed: soda pop, sports drinks such as Gatorade or Powerade, flavored waters, sweetened teas, juice drinks with added sugar, and even some energy drinks — as long as they carry a Nutrition Facts label instead of a Supplement Facts label.
SNAP was meant to help families afford real food — not candy aisles and soda coolers. But under today’s rules, junk food and sugary drinks are fully covered, while hardworking taxpayers foot the bill. I argue that America’s obesity epidemic is fueled in large part by SNAP. Each year, billions of taxpayer dollars flow directly into purchases of calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods — items that medical research consistently links to weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. When the federal government uses our tax dollars to buy unlimited soda, candy, and snack cakes for over 42 million people, it’s bankrolling the very habits destroying America’s health. If Washington really cared about wellness, it wouldn’t be financing obesity and diabetes.
That may start changing soon. In 2025, the USDA began approving state waivers to test restrictions on sugary and highly processed foods. Nebraska was among the first to get approval in May 2025, banning soda and energy drinks starting January 1, 2026. Several other states soon followed with similar proposals targeting soda, candy, energy drinks, and low-juice beverages. By late summer 2025, about a dozen states — including Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia — had either received or were awaiting approval of waivers under the new “Make America Healthy Again” initiative.
For now, though, the sweet truth remains: as of November 2025, SNAP recipients across most of the country can still fill their grocery carts with soda, candy, ice cream, and gum — all completely within federal law. Unless real limits are put in place, taxpayers will keep paying for the very junk food that’s destroying America’s health.