The Save gas station on the west side of Gary, Indiana, wants customers to know that they can pay for their groceries with food stamps. When I pulled into the parking lot last week, the first thing I saw was a blinking neon sign that read EBT for electronic benefits transfer, the prepaid cards used by food-stamp recipients. Inside, I spotted coolers packed with drinks, and shelves and shelves of snacks. But a black-and-white sign on the cashier window had a warning: As of January 1, soda and candy can no longer be purchased with food stamps. Indiana is one of five states'along with Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, and West Virginia'that has begun banning the purchase of certain unhealthy treats with food stamps, which is formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. They have all been spurred into action by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has made these bans a priority of his tenure as health secretary. 'There's no nutrition in these products,' Kennedy said in June, celebrating...
learn more
