U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins this week announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is proposing changes to strengthen the stocking requirements for retailers participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The department said these changes would protect the program, participants, and taxpayers by mitigating fraud, waste, and abuse and ensuring additional healthy food options for recipient families.
“Retailers participating in SNAP need to sell real food, plain and simple. 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. These common-sense changes are designed to minimize benefit trafficking and skimming, among other fraudulent activities, while making more nutritious foods available to families who rely on the program,” said Secretary Brooke Rollins. “This is another step forward in President Trump’s mission to Make America Healthy Again.”
Currently, SNAP retailers are required to stock three varieties of food in each of four staple food categories – dairy, protein, grain, and fruits and vegetables – 12 foods total. The proposed rule:
- Increases variety requirements to seven per staple food category, more than doubling the food choices available to SNAP participants.
- Closes loopholes that allow certain snack foods to count as staple foods, emphasizing the importance of healthy, whole food.
- Simplifies how foods are classified, making the standards easier for retailers to understand – and FNS to enforce.
USDA is welcoming comments on the proposed rule from interested parties and the public. The full text of the rule is available on the FNS website. Comments may be submitted September 25 through November 24, 2025, by visiting regulations.gov.
