The Missouri Department of Social Services applied last year for federal permission to implement its Healthy SNAP initiative. As the department works with grocers to iron out details, it’s unclear whether the changes will go into effect Oct. 1 as planned.

As Missouri prepares to limit what low-income families can purchase with public food benefits this fall, grocers say they need to know which items to block at the register.

The changes, planned for Oct. 1, would prohibit purchases of candy, prepared desserts and sugary drinks through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Next summer, the same restrictions will also apply to SuN Bucks, the summer food program serving hundreds of thousands of Missouri children.

More than 300,000 Missouri families participate in SNAP, according to the Missouri Department of Social Services.

The planned changes come as the department implements narrowed SNAP eligibility requirements as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress last summer. Parts of the federal law banning SNAP for asylees and refugees and requiring participants ages 55 through 64 to show they meet work requirements, in addition to participants 18 through 55, have already gone into effect. Starting in October, states will receive half as much federal funding to administer SNAP as they get currently.