By: Julie O'Donoghue-March 2, 2026 Louisiana Illuminator
The following interview with Louisiana Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein is featured in this week’s episode of “The Light Switch,” the Louisiana Illuminator’s weekly podcast.
Greenstein discusses new restrictions on food purchases for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, sometimes referred to as food stamps. Gov. Jeff Landry has prohibited the purchase of some sodas, candy and energy drinks with SNAP benefits in an effort to encourage healthier eating.
This transcript of this interview has been edited for clarity.
O’DONOGHUE: What type of changes has the SNAP program undergone, effective February 18?
GREENSTEIN: We brought the SNAP program more in line with the principles in the Department of Health, which is really to promote a healthier Louisiana.
In the past, SNAP benefits were able to be used for candy, energy drinks and sugar and artificially-flavored soft drinks, and soda pop. And so we’ve basically taken that off the list of what you can use a SNAP benefit for.
At the same time, we’re beginning a program that we call the Carrot Initiative, and that is to give an additional 30% back to [SNAP recipients] for every dollar they spend on fresh fruits and vegetables. We’re piloting that right now in Baton Rouge and in Orleans Parish, and what we’re trying to do is shift the whole program to having better foods, more economical foods, and more healthy foods available in the SNAP program.
O’DONOGHUE: What specific types of products are going to be excluded from SNAP benefits now?
GREENSTEIN: Diet soda, soda that is flavored or that is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, the classic energy drinks and then candy, as you’d imagine, at the checkout of the grocery store. Everything from Skittles to M&Ms and candy bars.
O’DONOGHUE: Did the health department do any research about to what extent SNAP benefits were being used for these types of products?
GREENSTEIN: As much as 30% of SNAP benefits were being used for what we consider not health-promoting foods or not whole foods.
O’DONOGHUE: Why did you pick these items? Because there are some items that I think people would consider not very healthy that are still allowed.
GREENSTEIN: I get asked often if we believe that junk food is still OK, while candy is not OK. Every time you look at foods to take off of the list, to say you can’t use your SNAP EBT card on, it becomes very granular very quickly.
On the junk food side, some junk food is subject to people’s interpretation, but energy drinks, soda pop that has high-fructose corn syrup or artificial flavor, those were very easy to define.
Candy is actually quite tricky. There’s a spectrum of what is candy and what is cookies, for example. My favorite is the distinction between, say Chips Ahoy cookies and something that has a cookie in it, which is Twix. One you can no longer use your SNAP benefit on … is Twix but right now cookies are still on the list.
The goal is not to turn the SNAP benefit into something super austere, but instead we’re orienting the program towards better health, better foods, better to feed a family, and this is our first step, and we think we’re going in the right direction.
O’DONOGHUE: There is some criticism that folks feel like restrictions to SNAP benefits are sometimes a nanny state thing, like a little bit insulting to the people who rely on these benefits.
GREENSTEIN: We’ve heard the question: “Is the state moralizing the SNAP benefit?” We were expecting to hear that kind of criticism, and actually it was the other way.
We heard that people were critical of the Department of Health running a program to help feed our state that didn’t focus on healthy and whole foods. I’ve not talked to anybody that said, “I demand candy with my publicly funded benefit. I demand an energy drink.”
Listen, if you would like to consume a candy bar after football practice, you want to have a Coca-Cola with your friends, go for it. But a taxpayer-funded benefit program is not the place for it.
O’DONOGHUE: You wanted to expand the items that could be purchased with SNAP benefits to include rotisserie chickens. Where does that stand and why were you proposing it?
GREENSTEIN: Among the foods that you cannot use your SNAP EBT card on, historically, has been prepared foods.
Rotisserie chicken, to us, is an easy way forward. The federal government is not quite there yet. They have not awarded this waiver to allow us the flexibility to put it into the benefit. We met with officials last month, and we’ve made our case, and now we’ll continue to work with them,hopefully to get approval for our so-called chicken waiver.
O’DONOGHUE: If someone has a question about whether an item is still SNAP eligible or not, is that something that they should ask someone at the store?
GREENSTEIN: There should be people at the store that have the comprehensive list. We have guidance on our website. They can go there.
And you know, again, this is a process. It’s a change to how people have shopped historically. We ask for grace from both sides. We’re doing this to develop a healthier Louisiana. I think we’re on the right path.