Iowa defensive back TJ Hall discusses the Hawkeyes’ loss No. 11 Indiana during a postgame media availability at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City on Saturday, Sept. 27. (Ethan Petrik/Quad-City Times)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to require more “healthy” food on the shelves of retailers participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
According to a news release from the department, this decision fits with the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. In Iowa, it could make it more difficult for small, nontraditional stores to participate in the program and therefore lower SNAP accessibility.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in the release that the “common sense” changes would minimize “fraudulent activities” in the federal nutrition program and ensure greater availability of nutritious foods to participants.
People are also reading… One person injured in Tuesday shooting in Waterloo Two arrested in dealership car theft, store break-ins in Waterloo Restaurant inspection update: Cedar Falls eatery cited for 12 risk-factor violations New Hartford woman arrested in New Years Eve Cedar Falls bar attack Four people arrested Monday in vacant Waterloo home burglary Grundy Center man injured, taken to hospital in Fayette County crash Several injured after pickup truck, party bus crash in Cedar Falls Protesters rally after Des Moines superintendent detained by ICE Friday morning Fort Dodge teenager arrested in Evansdale road rage stabbing First conceptual plans of Crossroads Mall released, demolition to begin in spring Cedar Rapids man arrested in motorcycle chase that ended in Waterloo Teen hospitalized after being struck by car Friday night in Cedar Falls Note handed to school bus driver uncovers abuse, kidnapping in Fayette County Iowa softball lands Hawkeye legacy, daughter of former football player, cheerleader Woman arrested following early morning chase, crash in Cedar Falls
“Retailers participating in SNAP need to sell real food, plain and simple,” Rollins said in the release. “Right now, the bar for stocking food as a SNAP retailer is far too low, allowing people to game the system and leaving vulnerable Americans without healthy food options.”
Currently USDA requires that SNAP retailers sell three varieties of each of the four “staple food” categories. That means they must have at least three options for fruits or vegetables, dairy products, protein and grain. These staple items, according to USDA must be continuously stocked and have at least three stocking units.
Under the proposed changes from USDA, retailers would need to stock seven varieties in each staple food category. According to the release, the change also “closes loopholes” that allow snack products to count toward staple food varieties. The department said this change emphasizes “healthy, whole food.”
According to the news release, there are 266,000 SNAP participating retailers across the country. USDA data shows there are more than 3,000 retailers in Iowa and more than 1,400 of those retailers are convenience stores.
John Maynes, the president of FUELIowa which represents fuel distributors and convenience stores in Iowa, said many members with the association are “mom and pop shops” in rural parts of the state that sell the “daily essentials” to their communities, which may or may not have a traditional grocery store in town.
“What I’ve heard from our convenience store industry, particularly the small mom and pop shops throughout rural Iowa that accept SNAP and provide access points for the users of SNAP, it’s really a wait-and-see approach,” Maynes said. “They’re trying to see how all this is going to come together.”
Maynes said for stores like that, distribution, storage and space are all challenges that could make it difficult to comply with USDA’s increased stocking requirements.
“SNAP participation for a retailer is a voluntary program,” Maynes said. “And ultimately, the businesses who offer or accept SNAP payments, they’re going to have to look at it and see if the continued acceptance of SNAP payment is going to be worth their time and effort to comply with the changing requirements.”
USDA’s statement on the changes said the current low stocking requirements make SNAP vulnerable to fraud and abuse from retailers that aren’t “genuinely” selling food and want to “cash in on taxpayer-funded benefits.”
“No amount of fraud will be tolerated,” USDA said in the release.
The National Grocers Association said in a statement it supports the stocking requirement changes from USDA.
“American consumers deserve access to a wide variety of foods, including perishable and shelf stable, and having access to full service supermarkets and other retailers that offer these items is essential to building strong communities,” the association said.
While it supported the changes, the grocers association asked lawmakers and USDA to continue funding programs like Double Up Food Bucks and the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, which help incentivize the purchase of fresh produce with SNAP dollars.
Chris Schwartz, executive director of the Iowa Food System Coalition, said the changes “might have some good benefits” in increasing healthy food availability, but they could also “backfire and create more food deserts” as retailers stop accepting SNAP.
“At the end of the day, if the USDA really wants to get healthy food on the table for all Iowans and all Americans alike, we need to start investing in local food systems and table food production at the same level that we do with commodity crops,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz said that means investing into these systems “on the front end” and reinstating programs like Local Food for Schools and Local Food Purchase Assistance, both of which were canceled in March.
More Iowa SNAP changes
Maynes said the convenience store retailers that he represents are in a “wait and see” situation, not only with the latest news from USDA, but also as they approach the implementation date of Iowa’s SNAP waiver.
This waiver, proposed by Gov. Kim Reynolds and approved by USDA in May, restricts foods eligible for state sales tax, like candy, soft drinks, and sweetened snacks, from being purchased with SNAP.
Iowa is one of 12 states to exclude certain foods from SNAP in their states via the waivers, which have been approved by Rollins.
Maynes said retailers have been working with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services for implementation instructions, but said it’s a “slow-moving process.
This waiver would not impact retailer stocking requirements so much as it would affect checkout procedures. Maynes said retailers want to make sure education about the new rules will be offered to SNAP participants to avoid uncomfortable situations at the checkout counter.
“We want to make sure that we’re keeping a positive experience for everybody who’s coming into the private business, and not having situations where we’re having to explain what can be purchased, what can’t be purchased, user to user,” Maynes said.
The waiver goes into place Jan. 1, 2026, which Maynes said is a “tight timeline.”
USDA’s proposed retailer stocking requirements are open to public comment through Nov. 24 on the USDA Food and Nutrition Service website.
This story is provided by States Newsroom, a nonprofit state news network and Blox Digital content partner.
PHOTOS: Waterloo Black Hawks hosted Des Moines in home opener 0 Comments Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Originally published on iowacapitaldispatch.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox!
Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Read more on Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier
