TYLER \u2014 Starting this April, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will no longer allow purchasing candy or drinks with more than 5 grams of sugar or artificial sweetener.\u00a0However, SNAP card shoppers will still be able to purchase electrolyte drinks, coffee creamers and any ingredients on the baking side.<\/p>\n
Celia Cole, with Feeding Texas, says the responsibility for following the new rules will not fall on shoppers. \u201cShoppers will not be penalized. It is up to the retailers to make sure that they are implementing the restrictions accurately,\u201d Cole explains.<\/p>\n
The new rules affect 3.4 million Texans. Oklahoma and Louisiana have already implemented these restrictions, paving the way for states like Texas, Florida and Colorado to officially enact them next month.<\/p>\n
If restrictions on SNAP increase, food banks and kitchens will feel the pressure. \u2018Feed My Lambs\u2019 Community Kitchen, located at St. Vincent de Paul, provides hot lunches every Wednesday and a weekly grocery pick-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re concerned because they\u2019re aware of the changes that are coming up, and they think that that\u2019s going to bring in demand, so more people using our community kitchen, and also possibly change the donations that we receive,\u201d Alicia Brownell, Director of \u2018Feed My Lambs\u2019 Community Kitchen, said.<\/p>\n
Brownell said that even if demand increases, they will still be allowed to give out whatever food they receive through donations.<\/p>\n
Items that can no longer be purchased through SNAP next month include:<\/p>\n
Candy
\nSoda
\nEnergy Drinks
\nYogurt and chocolate-covered fruit
\nGum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TYLER \u2014 Starting this April, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will no longer allow purchasing candy or drinks with more than 5 grams of sugar or artificial sweetener.\u00a0However, SNAP card shoppers will still be able to purchase electrolyte drinks, coffee creamers and any ingredients on the baking side. Celia Cole, with Feeding Texas, says … Continue reading SNAP restrictions on sugar intake to impact 3.4 million Texans<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1491927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/03\/SNAP-201x200.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2851],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1491153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state-news-archive"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 16:21:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/03\/SNAP-201x200.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1491153"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1492148,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491153\/revisions\/1492148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1491927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1491153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1491153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1491153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}