The agency plans to apply for the waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture ahead of the Nov. 5 application deadline for the rural health funding.

“We’re working out the definitions so that the retail community can have a smooth transition, but we’re eliminating things that cause chronic disease, so candy and soda,” said Pat Traynor, interim Health and Human Services commissioner.

Traynor said the earliest the changes could affect North Dakota SNAP recipients is next year, and the new changes would take months to implement.

North Dakota had about 57,000 SNAP recipients in May, according to USDA data.

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At least 12 states have received federal approval to restrict SNAP recipients from using their benefits to buy foods such as soda and candy, Stateline reported. Some states have restricted only soda, while others have included energy drinks, prepared desserts and other sugary drinks. The trend is related to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to “make America healthy again.”

Sen. Jeff Magrum, R-Hazelton, remarked during Tuesday’s legislative committee meeting that the government’s definition of what food is and isn’t healthy seems to differ over time.

“What if they ever classified beef as non-nutritious, or something to that effect?” he asked. “When they base the money on non-nutritious, that’s kind of a moving target.”

Aker said the state has control over how it defines non-nutritious food under the waiver.

Emily O’Brien, deputy commissioner for Health and Human Services, said the department is still working out which soda and candy products will be included in the waiver.

“We’re fine-tuning what the definitions look like,” O’Brien said. “We want to have buy-in, too, from our partners on implementation.”

John Dyste, president of the North Dakota Grocers Association, said he’s been in contact with state officials about the SNAP waiver and plans to meet with the department.

Dyste said he does not think prohibiting candy and soda from SNAP purchases would be difficult for grocery stores to implement, though may be more challenging for smaller stores without a point-of-sale system.

Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, said eliminating soda and candy from the SNAP program is a “fine idea,” and hoped it would give North Dakota’s application for the Rural Health Transformation Program a boost.