Ohio SNAP shoppers who fill a cup at the soda fountain and pay with their EBT card are about to lose that option. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved a waiver letting Ohio redefine what counts as food under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, striking sugar-sweetened beverages and fountain drinks from the list of items the benefit will cover. The change takes effect October 1, 2026, and it lands in the middle of a wider legal fight over which states get to keep similar restrictions after a federal court blocked five of them in June.
USDA’s Approval Letter Sets Ohio’s October 1 Start Date
The waiver traces back to a March 4, 2026 letter from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, approving the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services’ request to run a two-year demonstration project that amends the statutory definition of food for SNAP purchases. Ohio first asked for the waiver on Oct. 28, 2025, and USDA’s approval set the start date for Oct. 1, 2026, giving the state agency, retailers and SNAP households roughly seven months to prepare before the new rule takes hold at the register.
That original approval covered only sugar-sweetened beverages. On June 23, 2026, USDA agreed to a follow-up request from Ohio to widen the waiver to add “all fountain drinks” to the excluded list regardless of sugar content, meaning a diet fountain soda purchased at a gas station or fast-food counter will be treated the same as a full-sugar one once the rule starts.
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Why USDA Calls This a Nutrition Fix, Not a Benefit Cut
USDA has approved this type of waiver for more than twenty states pursuing similar changes, describing the effort as a way to keep SNAP dollars away from non-nutritious items like soda and candy and steer the program back toward its stated purpose of supporting healthy diets. Framed that way, the fountain-drink exclusion is not a reduction in benefit amounts; Ohio SNAP households keep the same monthly allotment, they simply cannot spend part of it on a category of drink the state and USDA have agreed no longer qualifies as food…