{"id":28607,"date":"2016-04-19T02:40:44","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T06:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/snap-eligible-foods\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T17:09:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T22:09:34","slug":"snap-eligible-foods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/snap-eligible-foods\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Stocking SNAP Eligible Items?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Part of accepting EBT or SNAP payments in your store is making sure that you are carrying the right food and beverage products to not only remain an authorized SNAP retailer, but also keep cardholders satisfied.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 Adhering to the USDA\u2019s regulations on SNAP eligible items and also meeting customer demands can be a challenge, but staying in the know will ensure your business can continue increasing profits by accepting SNAP benefits with EBT processing.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>What items do you HAVE to carry?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you are already an FNS authorized SNAP retailer, and currently accept EBT payments, you\u2019re probably well aware of the requirements for food and beverage products you should have in your store.\u00a0 If not, you should definitely review the list of requirements and prepare your store prior to applying for your FNS number.\u00a0 Either way, being familiar with the list and stipulations is important.<\/p>\n<p>To be eligible to accept SNAP benefits or EBT payments your store must have<strong> at least 3 varieties of food in each of the following staple food groups:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Meat, poultry, fish<\/li>\n<li>Bread or cereal<\/li>\n<li>Vegetables or fruits<\/li>\n<li>Dairy products<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The store must have these items available for sale on a continuous basis to be eligible to accept SNAP and EBT payments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What kinds of items do and do not qualify for purchase with SNAP?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important to be clear about what kinds of foods and drinks fit into the categories listed above and can be purchased in your store with a SNAP EBT card.\u00a0 The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 details these specifics.\u00a0 Under this act, <strong>the following are not eligible for SNAP purchases:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Alcohol<\/li>\n<li>Tobacco<\/li>\n<li>Hot food or food for on-premises consumption<\/li>\n<li>Pet food<\/li>\n<li>Soap<\/li>\n<li>Paper products<\/li>\n<li>Medicines and vitamins<\/li>\n<li>Household supplies<\/li>\n<li>Grooming items<\/li>\n<li>Cosmetics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When it comes to food items, the following are also <strong>not<\/strong> eligible for purchase with SNAP benefits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Energy drinks that have a supplement facts label<\/li>\n<li>Live animals and birds<\/li>\n<li>Inedible gourds and pumpkins<\/li>\n<li>Gift baskets that contain both food &amp; non-food items (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fns.usda.gov\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>Find the most recent notice about these here<\/u><\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The general guideline for which items are available to be purchased with SNAP benefits and EBT cards are that they are either foods for the household to eat or seeds and plants which can produce food to eat.\u00a0 However, there are some exceptions for eligible food items that might not be very obvious and actually <strong>are<\/strong> eligible for purchase with SNAP benefits, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Seafood, steak, and bakery cakes<\/li>\n<li>Energy drinks that have a nutrition facts label<\/li>\n<li>Low-cost meals from restaurants in <strong>some areas<\/strong> for homeless, elderly, or disabled people<\/li>\n<li>Live fish such as lobsters and other shellfish<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Can customers buy \u201cjunk food\u201d with their EBT cards?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Because the Food and Nutrition Act specifically incorporates the definition of \u201cfood\u201d, any change to it would require Congressional action.\u00a0 Congress has considered this sort of change in the past, but later determined that placing limits on the kinds of food items that can be purchased with SNAP benefits would be a costly burden.\u00a0 This means that all of the following are eligible for purchase with SNAP benefits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Soft drinks<\/li>\n<li>Candy<\/li>\n<li>Cookies<\/li>\n<li>Snack crackers<\/li>\n<li>Ice cream<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lately, many Americans have become more interested in fresh fruits and vegetables. \u00a0Consumers value access to healthier food options which means while you&#8217;ll still sell a lot of snack foods, you can really add value to your store by stocking the fresh and healthy\u00a0items.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What if a customer tries to buy an SNAP ineligible item with their EBT card?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If your store doesn\u2019t have a fully integrated POS system that scans barcodes and automatically knows which items are SNAP eligible, you\u2019ll have to closely monitor your sales.\u00a0 Because the rules for eligible items are pretty general and most EBT cardholders are aware of them, you should not run in to too many issues with consumers.\u00a0 However, it is your responsibility as a SNAP retailer to make sure you are not processing EBT transactions that include the cost for ineligible items.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve developed an easy to read guide for your store to help you and your customers understand what they can and cannot purchase with their SNAP EBT card.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part of accepting EBT or SNAP payments in your store is making sure that you are carrying the right food and beverage products to not only remain an authorized SNAP retailer, but also keep cardholders satisfied.\u00a0 Adhering to the USDA\u2019s regulations on SNAP eligible items and also meeting customer demands can be a challenge, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":244,"featured_media":28608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[209],"class_list":["post-28607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-announcement","tag-snap-ebt-tips-for-retailers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/244"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28607"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29801,"href":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28607\/revisions\/29801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goebt.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}