South Carolina’s food assistance card will stop paying for candy, energy drinks and soft drinks on November 1. The change reaches about 495,000 people who get SNAP in the state, and it comes through a waiver the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved for a program called Healthy Food SC. Households cannot opt out.
The date is not the first one South Carolina announced. Grocery shoppers who heard “August 31” over the summer are now looking at a start nine weeks later.
A governor’s request becomes a two-year project
Gov. Henry McMaster announced plans for the waiver in August 2025 and directed the state Department of Social Services to file the request. WRHI reports that USDA approved the program in December 2025. Local television coverage describes Healthy Food SC as a two-year project.
The stated goal is to steer SNAP households toward more nutritious purchases. USDA’s own list of food restriction waivers carries the South Carolina entry with the restricted items: candy, energy drinks, soft drinks and sweetened beverages.
All SNAP-approved retailers in the state take part. A shopper who tries to pay for a restricted item with the card will need another way to cover it, such as cash or a debit card, as with other items SNAP has never covered.
Diet soda stays on the eligible list
One detail matters at the shelf. Both the WRHI report and the local television coverage say diet and zero-sugar soft drinks remain eligible. A regular cola is out, and a zero-sugar cola is still allowed.
The split between regular and zero-sugar is the line the card follows. A shopper reaching for a soft drink at a South Carolina store after November 1 will find the same shelf, with different rules for different cans.
The question for a household is simple. What does the card still pay for after November 1, and what has to come out of pocket? Candy, energy drinks, regular soft drinks and other sweetened beverages come out of pocket, and diet or zero-sugar soft drinks stay on the card.
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A start date that already moved once
The first start date was August 31. In late August, according to WRHI, USDA told South Carolina the project had to wait until November 1. The report does not give an official reason. It says the USDA Office of the General Counsel and the U.S. Department of Justice were reviewing court orders that overturned similar SNAP restrictions in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia.
The June 22 ruling from a federal court in Washington found USDA lacked the authority to approve those waivers, the law firm Covington explained in its summary of the decision. The order named five states and did not name South Carolina.
USDA’s list, updated October 13, still shows South Carolina with a November 1 date. It marks four states, Colorado, Iowa, Tennessee and West Virginia, as blocked by the court order, and South Carolina is not among them.
About 495,000 people and an unchanged benefit
South Carolina had 495,445 SNAP participants in April 2026, Newsweek reported from federal data. That was down 12.7 percent from a year earlier. The same report says the changes do not reduce monthly benefit amounts.
So the benefit stays the same size, and the list of what it buys gets shorter. People on SNAP who bought candy or sweetened drinks with the card will cover those items another way, or leave them off the list.
The court fight behind the November date
The legal question has not gone away. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins called the judge an “activist judge” after the June ruling, and an appeal to the D.C. Circuit is expected. The National Association of Convenience Stores, whose spokesperson Margaret Mannion said the waivers “make it more confusing,” argues a patchwork of state rules is unworkable for retailers.
The ruling covers the five states that were named in the lawsuit. South Carolina’s project is not among them, and USDA’s table lists it with a November 1 date. Whether that holds depends on a review that, per WRHI, the agency’s lawyers and the Justice Department were still doing in late August.
Where the answers sit before November 1
Another state starts the same day with a narrower list. Virginia’s social services department says its rule reaches only carbonated drinks with added sweeteners, and that juice, milk and sports drinks stay eligible. South Carolina’s list is broader because it names candy and sweetened beverages in general.
The free, official place to confirm the date and the items is USDA’s food restriction waiver list. It was updated October 13 and is the most recent federal statement on South Carolina’s start.
The state Department of Social Services, which filed the waiver request, runs the program, and households with a question about their own case can ask their local office. The change does not alter who is eligible for SNAP. What changes is the basket: candy, energy drinks, regular soft drinks and other sweetened beverages on one side, diet and zero-sugar soft drinks on the other.
Shopping a South Carolina grocery aisle after November 1?
A cart packed the old way can come up short at the register on November 1, and the gap comes out of the same tight monthly budget. A household that also owes a SNAP renewal can lose track of which date is which.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer includes a state pack for South Carolina among its 51 state packs, plus a renewal and reporting calendar. The calendar puts the November 1 change in one place with the dates that decide whether the benefit keeps coming.
Keep South Carolina’s SNAP dates straight with the organizer’s state pack and calendar →
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This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
