Texas Senate passes bill to ban soda, chips, and candy for food stamps

The Texas Senate passed a bill that would ban food stamp recipients from buying things like soda, chips and candy. 

Senate Bill 379

The backstory:

The push-back on Senate Bill 379 isn’t about whether healthier foods are more necessary.

Those at Bonton Farms say the theory is good, but with no access to healthy foods for customers in poor areas, it’s just a healthy bill in name only. 

Bonton Farms is an oasis of fresh produce in a food desert in South Dallas. An area with already few grocery options and, in the last year, locations near Fair Park have closed their doors. 

"If a community member does not have transportation themselves and have to rely on public transportation, that’s still going to be an hour and 15 minutes one way to get to the grocery store. Yes, an hour," said CEO of Bonton Farms, Gabe Madison.

The farmers' market at Bonton Farms allows shoppers to purchase fresh produce and meat with their SNAP benefits, even offering a type of buy-one-get-one-free option on produce through a state partnership.

What they're saying:

Texas Senator Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston), the author of the junk food crackdown, says the goal is not to punish the poor.

"Items like soda, energy drinks, candy, potato chips, corn chips, cookies. They don't just lack nutritional value. They are bad for you," said Sen. Middleton. 

Senator Nathan Johnson echoed the same sentiments as Middleton. "It's really hard for people to make good health decisions when all they've seen their whole lives is junk food," said Sen. Johnson 

But Democrats pushed back on that, highlighting the issues of access and education on healthy food options.

"Accessibility is the most is the key word that we need to be dealing with," said Sen. Borris Miles

Dig deeper:

More than 3.3 million Texans utilize SNAP benefits, which used to be referred to as food stamps.

Sen. Middleton said SNAP customers can purchase healthy items online and have them delivered. 

Bonton Farms recently partnered with Kroger to do just that. Kroger doesn’t charge delivery fees and brings the groceries to a community center in South Dallas.

"We want another Bonton Farms, you know, we need more of those. That's in [Sen. Royce West's] District, they do great work," said Sen. Mayes Middleton 

"No food delivery is not the silver bullet. We need to provide more than online delivery," responded Madison.

WIC, another federal program that provides food assistance for families, already prohibits the purchase of certain items like soda and candy.

What's next:

The bill now heads to the Texas House for consideration.