During an interview with Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show," State Rep. Reed Ingram (R-Pike Road) discussed the ongoing legislative effort to ban junk food or "luxury items" from Alabama's Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
"We're doing SNAP, and you get free food. We're letting you buy a luxury item like Coca Colas, chewing gum and candy bars. It just doesn't make sense to me," Ingram said.
The legislator argued that the purpose of SNAP is to keep people healthy by providing wholesome foods like fruits and vegetables, not sodas and candy.
"A lot of these people don't understand what good health is, because they are people who have been in poor health for generations," explained Ingram. "Some of them don't eat any fruit or vegetables. They go into the grocery store, and they get to the Twinkies and load a buggy up, and wonder why they're sick. I don't like to tell people what they can do and what they can't do. But we're trying to keep people alive, and it's supposed to be meant for nutrition. That's not very nutritious. So if it's a luxury item, I don't think you ought to be able to buy it."
Ingram added, "I don't think you ought to be able to go in the grocery store and get yourself a buggy full of Coca Colas and candy bars and Twinkies. It's sad to see a lot of the results we're seeing across the state. It's something that we've got to reform."
Members of the Alabama Senate recently passed State Sen. Arthur Orr's (R-Decatur) legislation requiring the Department of Human Resources to request a waiver from the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service to exclude candy and soda from the definition of eligible food for purposes of SNAP benefits.
Should the waiver be granted, legislation would require the department to prohibit the use of SNAP benefits to purchase candy and soda.
The Alabama House of Representatives is now considering the bill.
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