I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 479
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY16, 2025
Mr. B
RECHEEN(for himself, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. BIGGS
of Arizona, Mr. C
LOUD, Mr. GOSAR, Mrs. MILLERof Illinois, and Mr.
M
EUSER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Agriculture
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 2025’’. 5
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•HR 479 IH
SEC. 2. FOOD UNDER SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSIST-1
ANCE PROGRAM. 2
(a) D
EFINITION OFFOOD.—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 desserts such as cakes, pies, cook-10
ies, or similar products’’; and 11
(2) by striking ‘‘clauses’’ and inserting ‘‘para-12
graphs’’. 13
(b) D
ESIGNATEDFOOD.—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) D
ESIGNATEDFOOD.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N 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) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out para-23
graph (1), the Secretary shall— 24
‘‘(A) take into consideration food and food 25
products that— 26
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•HR 479 IH
‘‘(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) R
EVIEW 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) P
REPARED MEALS.—Prepared meals de-23
scribed in section 3(k) shall have nutritional values 24
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•HR 479 IH
consistent with regulations developed by the Sec-1
retary under this subsection. 2
‘‘(5) C
ULTURAL 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
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