Where We Have To Define Candy

With us since 1964 as the Food Stamp Act, and then as SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) since 2008, federal food assistance prohibited items like alcohol, tobacco, supplements, and hot foods. Now, trying to make the program healthier, the list will be longer.

Also though, we have begun to wonder what candy is.

SNAP Benefits

During the next two years, different states will try out new SNAP rules. Since the program is state-administered, states decide what SNAP will pay for. For now, Iowa, Utah, Indiana, Nebraska, and West Virginia have implemented the new rules while 13 other states have the go ahead when they are ready.

As a result, grocery markets like Baesler’s in Indiana are trying very hard to follow new state SNAP guidelines (of close to 74,000 ineligible items) so they can remain SNAP eligible. But since the USDA did not offer a definition of food categories like candy or soda, states that offered to try out the new rules formed their own. In Idaho, a SNAP customer can use the program to buy a chocolate-covered cookie candy bar if it was made with flour but not plain milk chocolate bars. Meanwhile Arkansas’s SNAP list said “No” to both.

Administering the program, states have defined foods differently:

Our Bottom Line: Government Spending

Close to half of the Department of Agriculture’s budget, SNAP spends approximately $100 billion annually:

With 94% going to food and 6% or so for administration, annual SNAP funding has been close to $100 billion:

Displaying which states get more, and which, less, the share of residents that received SNAP ranged from 4.8% to 21.2%:

My sources and more: Many of today’s facts came from WSJ. However, government websites here, here, here, and here, had many more numbers. In addition, the CBPP had a lot to say about SNAP. Then, for still more, you might go to this past econlife post. There, we saw dilemmas with taxing NYC bagels and UK fruit sandwiches. And finally, I recommend this Treasury website for spending graphics.