SNAP stocking standards rule: CSPI calls on White House to consider nutrition before finalizing

The Trump Administration claims its new rule to update stocking standards for retailers participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will increase healthy food access. But a letter sent today by the Center for Science in the Public Interest says the rule, as written, won’t necessarily achieve that. The group tells administration officials, “Without the addition of nutrition requirements, the updated stocking standards will not support the administration’s message to ‘eat real food.’”

Staple food stocking standards are minimum food inventory requirements that ensure SNAP-authorized retailers carry a minimum variety of foods in four different categories (fruits and vegetables, grains, dairy, and protein). With more than 260,000 US retailers participating in SNAP, stocking standards are a key lever for promoting access to fresh, healthy foods in communities across the country.

The US Department of Agriculture published a proposed rule in September 2025 to increase the minimum number of staple food varieties that SNAP retailers must carry from three to seven for each of the four staple food categories. CSPI generally supported the updates but noted that neither the current SNAP stocking standards nor the proposed updated standards included nutrition standards, such as limits on added sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and refined grains, for foods to count toward minimum inventory requirements.

In today’s letter, CSPI reiterates its call for the administration to incorporate nutrition requirements, noting that the proposed rule would allow foods like canned peaches in heavy syrup, Fruity Pebbles cereal, cinnamon roll-flavored yogurt, and SPAM to count as nutritious staple foods. According to CSPI, “The proposed rule would allow retailers to comply with updated stocking standards by simply offering a wider variety of unhealthy ultraprocessed foods.”

CSPI also emphasized the importance that new requirements be accompanied by an appropriate implementation timeline and robust technical assistance plan for retailers to develop the infrastructure necessary to comply with the new requirements, while preventing any retailers from dropping out of the SNAP program. This is particularly important given Congress’s recent assault on SNAP and the challenges SNAP retailers are confronting as a patchwork of state SNAP restriction policies take effect.

A final rule to update SNAP stocking standards is currently under review at the White House Office of Management and Budget. A press conference announcing updates on the impending stocking standards final rule is scheduled for tomorrow, Mar. 4, 2026, at 11am Eastern Time.

# # #