When calendars turn over to 2026, we hope you will be celebrating and making plans for a great new year!
We also want to make sure you’re aware that Nebraska’s new SNAP soda and energy drink restrictions will be in place as of January 1, 2026.
This means that Nebraska retailers will no longer allow SNAP participants to use their SNAP benefits to purchase products categorized as “soda” or “energy drinks”. Each individual SNAP retailer is enforcing the restriction based on the definitions linked here.
Why is this happening? Governor Pillen and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services requested and received a USDA waiver to make these changes. We are one of 18 states that have received approval to restrict SNAP purchases in similar ways.
To be clear, this restriction, or any restriction to the types of food available for purchase through SNAP, is demeaning and harmful.
- Restrictions like these assume low-income people participating in SNAP can’t make healthy decisions for themselves and need the government to step in.
- SNAP retailers have to make expensive changes to their systems and have to police purchases at the checkout line, which is especially challenging for smaller stores.
- If retailers decide to not participate in SNAP because of these restrictions, there will be fewer places for SNAP participants to buy food – making long trips to the grocery store even longer in rural areas or places without very many stores.
If you participate in SNAP and the soda and energy drink restriction will impact you, send us an email to let us know how.