Latest from Food Politics: Lawsuit #2: SNAP restrictions

The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement now counts 22 states as having passed laws eliminating sodas and sometimes other sweet foods from what SNAP recipients are allowed to buy with their electronic benefit cards. I am often asked what I think ...

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By Marion Nestle March 18 2026 Lawsuit #2: SNAP restrictions The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement now counts 22 states as having passed laws eliminating sodas and sometimes other sweet foods from what SNAP recipients are allowed to buy with their electronic benefit cards. I am often asked what I think about these laws.  I can argue them either way. Pro: Even with these restrictions, SNAP recipients can continue to buy sugar-sweetened beverages with their own money; the government should not support purchases of demonstrably unhealthy drinks. Con: These laws are not about improving the health of SNAP recipients; they are about punishing the poor for being poor, further stigmatizing them, and encouraging them to withdraw from benefits to which they are entitled. I have long been a supporter of pilot research projects (USDA “waivers”) to see whether restrictions like these help SNAP recipients eat more healthfully.  But these laws are not designed that way.  I just hope their effects are being researched adequately. Now, the laws are being challenged in court. The lawsuit calls for a halt to waivers in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia – five of the 22 states to which USDA has granted them. The suit comes from the National Center for Law and Economic Justice, an advocacy group focused on equity, and Shinder Cantor Lerner, an anti-trust law firm. The suit alleges that USDA is: Trying to shrink SNAP by authorizing a patchwork of state laws. Changing the statutory definition of food without authority or notice. Preventing recipients from buying foods they need to maintain health. Confusing SNAP recipients about what they can buy. Increasing burdens on retailers, thereby adversely affecting SNAP recipients. I can’t help wonder whether the food industry is behind all this. Calley Means, who advises Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, says no.  He blames the Democrats. What are we to make of all this? I guess we wait to see what emerges during the discovery process and what the courts decide. What a strange and complicated time this is. The post Lawsuit #2: SNAP restrictions appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle      Related Posts USDA grants SNAP waivers to 6 new states Lawsuit #1: David’s protein bars Weekend reading: The alcohol-free trend: it’s hot!   Now Available: What to Eat Now My new book, What to Eat Now, is officially out! It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously. For more information and to order, click here. You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.com, where you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs. Visit the Site » ​​​​​​​ Marion Nestle Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita © Marion Nestle. You're receiving this email because you've signed up to receive updates from us. If you'd prefer not to receive updates, you can unsubscribe. Safely Unsubscribe • Archives • Preferences • Contact • Subscribe • Privacy

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Latest from Food Politics: Lawsuit #1: David's protein bars

This week, I’m going to be writing about lawsuits against food companies, starting with the class action lawsuit filed against David Protein, which states that the company misrepresented the calorie and fat content of its bars. Here is a Nutrition ...

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By Marion Nestle March 17 2026 Lawsuit #1: David’s protein bars This week, I’m going to be writing about lawsuits against food companies, starting with the class action lawsuit filed against David Protein, which states that the company misrepresented the calorie and fat content of its bars. Here is a Nutrition Facts panel from the company’s website. The FDA allows several methods for counting calories in food products, one of which is to apply Atwater values, 4 calories per gram for protein and carbohydrate, and 9 calories per gram for fat (this is why fat is fattening). Doing that here gives: Fat: 2.5 x 9     =    23 (rounded off) Carbs: 12 x 4  =    48 Protein: 26 x 4 = 104 Total calories  =   175 This is higher than what’s on the label.  But calories are difficult to measure accurately, so the FDA allows a 20% margin of error. But the difference must have gotten the attention of the plaintiffs. They took the product and burned it in a bomb calorimeter, a device that measures the heat produced when foods are burned to completion.  This heat is equivalent to calories, when corrected for the nitrogen in protein. Here is what the plaintiffs got when they did this. Wow.  That’s quite a difference. But David’s has a rebuttal. …bomb calorimetry is not the right testing method for determining calories in foods containing certain ingredients, such as dietary fiber, certain sweeteners, and, critically for us, fat substitutes like esterified propoxylated glycerol (EPG)…If you burn ingredients like complex carbohydrates, fiber or EPG in a calorimeter, these ingredients would appear to deliver far more calories than the body actually metabolizes. This took me right to the ingredient list (see above) PROTEIN SYSTEM: MILK PROTEIN ISOLATE, COLLAGEN, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, EGG WHITE. | BINDING SYSTEM: MALTITOL, GLYCERIN, ALLULOSE, TAPIOCA STARCH, SOY LECITHIN. | FAT SYSTEM: MODIFIED PLANT FAT (EPG), COCONUT OIL. | FLAVOR SYSTEM: UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATE, PEANUT FLOUR, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, PEANUT EXTRACT, SALT, DUTCH PROCESS COCOA POWDER, SUCRALOSE, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM. My first question: Why would anyone want to eat a collection of concocted ingredients like this with hardly any of them recognizable as food?  These bars are quintessential ultra-processed products. Whatever.  EPG is esterified propoxylated glycerol, a fat substitute. It provides less than one calorie per gram. Here’s my quote from the New York Times Dr. Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of nutrition and food studies at N.Y.U., told DealBook that the plaintiffs’ claims were based on counting calories from a “concocted ingredient that’s not absorbed” by the body. The lawsuit was likely to be dismissed, she added. Not that Nestle was weighing in on the healthfulness of David bars: “Whether anyone should be eating non-absorbable fat is another discussion,” she said. Precisely. The post Lawsuit #1: David’s protein bars appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle      Related Posts Weekend reading: protein San Francisco’s lawsuit against food companies   Now Available: What to Eat Now My new book, What to Eat Now, is officially out! It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously. For more information and to order, click here. You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.com, where you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs. Visit the Site » ​​​​​​​ Marion Nestle Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita © Marion Nestle. You're receiving this email because you've signed up to receive updates from us. If you'd prefer not to receive updates, you can unsubscribe. Safely Unsubscribe • Archives • Preferences • Contact • Subscribe • Privacy

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