Louisiana is preparing to join a national effort bubbling up to ban soft drink purchases under SNAP, the federal food assistance program for low-income residents, as part of a larger push to reshape food policy led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Governor Jeff Landry announced on social media last week that the state will request a federal waiver to prohibit the use of SNAP benefits for soft drinks.
“Louisiana will lead the way in the MAHA movement,” Landry posted, referring to Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again initiative, the growing movement championed by Kennedy, head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, that focuses on personal choice and nutrition-based health reform over public health care programs.
A broad nutrition bill
The soda ban is part of a sweeping nutrition bill filed by State Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, who also introduced separate legislation this session to remove fluoride from Louisiana’s drinking water…