Healthy SNAP Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1485 To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require the Secretary to designate food and food products to be made available under the supplemental nutrition assistance program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 9, 2023 Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require the Secretary to designate food and food products to be made available under the supplemental nutrition as- sistance program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Healthy SNAP Act 4 of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 May 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1485.IS S1485 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1485 IS SEC. 2. FOOD UNDER SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSIST- 1 ANCE PROGRAM. 2 (a) DEFINITION OF FOOD.—Section 3(k)(1) of the 3 Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012(k)(1)) 4 is amended— 5 (1) by striking ‘‘except alcoholic beverages, to- 6 bacco’’ and inserting the following ‘‘designated by 7 the Secretary under section 4(d), except any alco- 8 holic beverages, tobacco, soft drinks, candy, ice 9 cream, prepared deserts such as cakes, pies, cookies, 10 or similar products’’; and 11 (2) by striking ‘‘clauses’’ and inserting ‘‘para- 12 graphs’’. 13 (b) DESIGNATED FOOD.—Section 4 of the Food and 14 Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2013) is amended by add- 15 ing at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(d) DESIGNATED FOOD.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 18 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 19 Secretary shall designate by regulation the foods and 20 food products that shall be included in the definition 21 of the term ‘food’ under section 3(k)(1). 22 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out para- 23 graph (1), the Secretary shall— 24 ‘‘(A) take into consideration food and food 25 products that— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 May 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1485.IS S1485 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1485 IS ‘‘(i) based on nutrition research, con- 1 tain nutrients lacking in the diets of people 2 in the United States; and 3 ‘‘(ii) promote the health of the popu- 4 lation served by the supplemental nutrition 5 assistance program, based on relevant nu- 6 trition science, public health concerns, and 7 cultural eating patterns; and 8 ‘‘(B) to the maximum extent practicable, 9 ensure that the fat, sugar, and salt content of 10 the food and food products is appropriate. 11 ‘‘(3) REVIEW OF AVAILABLE FOODS.—As fre- 12 quently as determined by the Secretary to be nec- 13 essary to reflect the most recent scientific knowl- 14 edge, but not less frequently than once every 5 15 years, the Secretary shall— 16 ‘‘(A) conduct a scientific review of the food 17 and food products designated under paragraph 18 (1); and 19 ‘‘(B) amend those foods and food products, 20 as necessary, to reflect nutrition science, public 21 health concerns, and cultural eating patterns. 22 ‘‘(4) PREPARED MEALS.—Prepared meals de- 23 scribed in section 3(k) shall have nutritional values 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 May 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1485.IS S1485 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1485 IS consistent with regulations developed by the Sec- 1 retary under this subsection. 2 ‘‘(5) CULTURAL CUISINES.—To allow for dif- 3 ferent cultural eating patterns, State agencies may, 4 with the approval of the Secretary, substitute dif- 5 ferent food for food designated under paragraph (1) 6 subject to the condition that the different food is nu- 7 tritionally equivalent to the substituted food.’’. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 May 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1485.IS S1485 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS