Starting in April, Florida plans to ban soda, candy, and other items deemed sugary junk food from SNAP benefits—joining more than a dozen other states pushing for similar restrictions.
Destiny Perez-Prado, a mother in Orange County who uses SNAP benefits, says the proposal feels like unnecessary control.
“The same way we don’t tell anyone how to spend their paycheck, I don’t feel like we should be controlled on what we’re supposed to eat,” she said.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says “It’s about nutrition, and there is no nutrition in these products. We shouldn’t be paying for these items with taxpayer money.”
The changes are part of the federal “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, which aims to tackle obesity nationwide.
“I have seven kids. Just this past month, it was three birthdays. Imagine if I couldn’t go to Walmart or Publix and get that pre-made cake,” Perez-Prado said.
She adds that the proposed changes would make it even harder to feed her family, especially for households without consistent access to cooking appliances.
“The whole dynamic—it’s not fair. And then when it comes to people that don’t have the availability to cook—for a year, we didn’t have a stove. So we lived off store-bought items that were already pre-prepared,” Perez-Prado explained.
She also points out that SNAP already comes with restrictions. “There are already limitations when it comes to what we can buy, because not all things are approved—not all brands, not all items,” she said.
Her concerns come after a lengthy government shutdown last year that paused SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, for more than a month.
“So for more restrictions to be put in place after we just lost our food stamps for a while, and then to fear more are coming—it’s like we have to completely rearrange the way we eat,” Perez-Prado said.
According to an analysis by the National Grocers Association and other industry trade groups, the proposed SNAP limits could hit U.S. retailers with about $1.6 billion in initial costs, plus an estimated $759 million in losses every year going forward.