What is Healthy SNAP?
On Sunday, September 28, 2025, Governor Kehoe signed Executive Order 25-30, directing the Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS) to prepare and submit a waiver to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to alter Missouri's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This waiver aims to prioritize healthy foods and nutritional value, discourage foods that are high in added sugar and ultra-processed ingredients, and support Missouri agriculture.
Additionally, Governor Kehoe's executive order calls for the Director of DSS to explore and recommend strategies to further encourage the purchase of fresh fruits, vegetables, and Missouri-produced meats and dairy products within the SNAP program. This Healthy SNAP initiative will involve leveraging and enhancing current Missouri healthy food education and access programs for purchasing nutritious food. The DSS Healthy SNAP initiative furthers the overall mission to empower Missourians to live healthy and productive lives
In conjunction with the Missouri Department of Agriculture, DSS is committed to utilizing and incentivizing the purchase of locally sourced, nutritious agricultural products.
DSS will work closely with team members and stakeholders, including families, nutrition experts, healthcare providers, retailers, and the agricultural community, to create an effective implementation plan and program details. This collaborative engagement process began in November 2025, ensuring Healthy SNAP reflects the needs and insights of those most impacted.
In June 2026, DSS announced an updated implementation timeline for the Healthy SNAP initiative, establishing a new official launch date of February 15, 2027. This intentional extension ensures that DSS can continue to collaborate with stakeholders and retail partners to deliver an effective and sustainable program from day one.
For additional details, please refer to Governor Kehoe's Executive Order 25-30, along with a copy of the waiver requests below:
Excluded Food Items
Candy Definition:
- "Candy" means a product that involves the preparation of sugar or artificial sweeteners in combination with chocolate, fruit, nuts, caramels, gummies, and hard candies or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops, or pieces. Candy does not include items containing flour or requiring refrigeration.
Pre-packaged Ready to Eat Desserts Definition:
- “Pre-packaged Ready to Eat Desserts" means a processed, shelf-stable, ready-to-eat, pre-packaged sweet food intended for immediate consumption without any further preparation. This includes doughnuts, brownies, cupcakes, cookies, snack cakes, muffins, pastries, sweet rolls, pies, cakes, pudding, churros, scones, and gelatin desserts. This would include foods mostly made from "chemically" modified substances extracted from foods, along with additives to enhance taste, texture, appearance, and durability, with minimal whole foods.
Excluded Beverages
Soda, Juice, Punch and Tea Definition:
- Certain carbonated and noncarbonated soft drinks, defined as any nonalcoholic beverage that is made with or without carbonated water and is sweetened with more than 10 grams of sugar per serving. "Soft drinks" do not include a beverage that contains milk, milk products, soy, rice, or other milk substitutes, or that is greater than 50 percent vegetable or fruit juice by volume.
- All other drinks or punches with natural fruit or vegetable juice which contain 50 percent or less by volume natural fruit or vegetable juice.
- Concentrates intended to be made into beverages which contain 50 percent or less by volume of natural fruit or vegetable juice.
Energy Drink Definition:
- Energy drinks, which are carbonated or non-carbonated beverages containing a stimulant such as fortified caffeine, guarana, glucuronolactone, or taurine. They may also include herbal extracts such as ginseng, mineral salts and vitamins, or high doses of organic acids, amino acids, inositol, sugars, or other similar compounds in addition to sweeteners. Juices or natural fruit pulp or concentrates may also be added. Energy drinks are specifically formulated to enhance energy, alertness, or physical performance. Beverages marketed primarily as sports drinks to increase hydration, such as Gatorade or as medically necessary nutritional products, are not included.
