As Missouri prepares to limit what low-income families can purchase with public food benefits this fall, grocers say they need to know which items to block at the register.
The changes, planned for Oct. 1, would prohibit purchases of candy, prepared desserts and sugary drinks through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Next summer, the same restrictions will also apply to SuN Bucks, the summer food program serving hundreds of thousands of Missouri children.
More than 300,000 Missouri families participate in SNAP, according to the Missouri Department of Social Services.
The department anticipates that 338,000 children ages 7 through 17 will automatically qualify for SuN Bucks this year through SNAP, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid or foster care, according to department spokesperson Baylee Watts. Another 163,500 kids are expected to qualify because they receive free or reduced-price school meals through the National School Lunch Program.
SuN Bucks issues a one-time $120 benefit per eligible child onto a debit card to help families buy groceries while school is out. Some children who qualify for the program might not be automatically enrolled. Applications for those kids to receive benefits are open through Aug. 31.
The department applied for permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to restrict SNAP and SuN Bucks purchases at the behest of Gov. Mike Kehoe last fall. In his Sept. 28 executive order, Kehoe directed the department to both discourage the use of SNAP to buy “foods that are high in sugar and ultra-processed” and incentivize healthy eating by partnering with local farmers and “utilizing and enhancing existing Missouri healthy food education and access programs.”
The planned changes come as the department implements narrowed SNAP eligibility requirements as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress last summer. Parts of the federal law banning SNAP for asylees and refugees and requiring participants ages 55 through 64 to show they meet work requirements, in addition to participants 18 through 55, have already gone into effect. Starting in October, states will receive half as much federal funding to administer SNAP as they get currently.
The number of Missouri families receiving SNAP benefits decreased by 6.6% since May 2025, from 322,265 to 300,971 in April, according to department data.
Kehoe did not recommend state funding in fiscal year 2027 for one program he praised in his executive order, Double Up Food Bucks, which helps SNAP recipients buy more fresh produce grocery stores and farmers markets, and the General Assembly did not restore the funding to the budget.
A Missouri waiver request that would have allowed SNAP participants to purchase hot rotisserie chickens using benefits has not been approved by the USDA, though the U.S. House of Representatives passed a version of the farm bill that would allow such purchases nationwide.
And SNAP and SuN Bucks restrictions are in the works, though the implementation date is not clear.
Healthy SNAP
Watts said the goal of the department’s SuN Bucks waiver “is to align the nutritional standards of the SuN Bucks program with the framework the department is establishing for the Healthy SNAP initiative.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved 23 state waivers restricting SNAP purchases of sweetened beverages, sugary foods or both. The waivers last two years, with an option to renew for another three years.
The department’s website defines “candy” as products that combine sugar or artificial sweetener “with chocolate, fruits, nuts, caramels, gummies and hard candies…in the form of bars, drops or pieces.” “Prepared desserts” will include sweet, ready-to-eat foods containing additives or “‘chemically’ modified substances extracted from foods.”
Fruit or vegetable drinks will have to contain 50% or more fruit or vegetable juice to qualify. Energy drinks and sodas will not be eligible for SNAP purchases.
Dan Shaul, executive director of the Missouri Grocers Association, told The Independent that while the department has been “very open and transparent” in discussions of the changes, retailers will need more detailed guidance to implement the changes consistently.
“The problem is, if you let 3,000 SNAP retailers across the state decide their own list, it’s going to be an absolute disaster,” Shaul said.
It’s unclear whether items such as granola bars, chocolate or strawberry milk drinks count as nutritious, Shaul said.
“It’s very simple to say we want SNAP recipients to have a healthy food list, until you decide for all families what healthy is,” Shaul said.
Mike Beal, chief financial officer of the Kansas City-based Balls Food Stores, said he hopes the department will provide a list of ineligible items identified by their 12-digit product codes — an approach already taken in Oklahoma, which began its SNAP waiver program in February.
“That’s our biggest fear, is that they’re going to tell us we have to be judge and executioner,” Beal said. “That we have to decide what works and make it work.”
Shaul said he expects the implementation of the waiver to drive some Missourians across state borders to buy groceries.
“There’s certainly going to be some consumer movement to get the product they want across the state line, or buying online from some source that doesn’t respect our SNAP waiver,” Shaul said.
Kansas is slated to bar SNAP purchases of candy and soft drinks in February 2027, while Illinois hasn’t moved to restrict SNAP purchases. Arkansas’ waiver is expected to go into effect July 1, while Iowa has been restricting SNAP purchases since January.
Each state’s restrictions are slightly different, meaning that in cities that span state borders, an item that qualifies for SNAP on one side of a street could be excluded on the other.
“There’s going to have to be some conflict management training,” Shaul said.
Christine Woody, food security policy coordinator at Empower Missouri, said providing grocers with specific lists of items “is the only way this is going to be implemented in a fair and straightforward way.”
To get the program up and running by the planned start date of Oct. 1, Shaul said, grocers would need a list of excluded items by mid-August.
Watts did not confirm an Oct. 1 start date for Healthy SNAP, writing in an email to The Independent that “the department’s priority is ensuring the program launches in a way that is effective and sustainable.”
Asked if the department will provide a list of excluded foods to grocers or the public, Watts said the department’s ongoing planning includes “operational considerations and ensuring any future guidance is practical, clear and informed by the needs of [SNAP] participants, retailers and partners.”
Social Services Director Jess Bax told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee in March that the department would likely postpone its implementation of Healthy SNAP.
“I can say with a 99% level of certainty,” Bax said at the time, “it’s taken longer than everyone has expected.”
