The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved Tennessee’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food-choice waivers, seeking to ban recipients of the program from purchasing processed food and carbonated sweetened beverages, and allow the benefits to be used towards hot meals.
The USDA announced that waivers submitted by Tennessee and five other states – Hawaii, Missouri, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Virginia – amending the statutory definition of “food for purchase” under SNAP beginning in 2026 were approved this week under the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative.
🎉 Six more states are Making America Healthy Again by removing unhealthy foods from SNAP!
1⃣ Hawai'i
2⃣ Missouri
3⃣ North Dakota
4⃣ South Carolina
5⃣ Virginia
6⃣ Tennessee🔗 https://t.co/rWM3PM9GCy pic.twitter.com/tAJCw28IJl
— Dept. of Agriculture (@USDA) December 10, 2025
Tennessee’s waivers, unveiled in August, reform the state’s SNAP program by banning processed food and carbonated sweetened beverages while adding prepared foods – such as hot prepared chicken and non-breaded items like grilled chicken tenders – to the list of items eligible to be purchased with the food benefits.
Processed foods are items that list sugar, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, or a similar caloric alternative as the primary (first) ingredient.
Carbonated sweetened beverages are beverages where carbonated water and sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, or a similar caloric alternative are the first two ingredients.
“The Trump Administration’s leadership to create innovative, responsible solutions that strengthen families and improve health outcomes will have a lasting impact on Tennesseans for generations to come,” Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said in a statement.
“I’m grateful to President Trump, Secretary Rollins, and Secretary Kennedy for quickly approving our SNAP waiver, and to our retailers and food producers for helping ensure nutritious food choices reach every community across our state,” Lee added.
So far, 18 states have submitted and had their SNAP Food Restriction Waivers approved by the USDA.
In Fiscal Year 2024, 711,200 residents, or approximately 10 percent, of Tennessee’s population received SNAP benefits.
In 2016, “sweetened beverages” and “prepared desserts” were the second and fifth-most purchased types of items by SNAP recipients, a USDA report showed at the time.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
