NACS, along with NATSO, representing America’s travel centers and truck stops, and SIGMA: America’s Leading Fuel Marketers, filed comments on the USDA’s proposed rule to update the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) stocking requirements, noting that the new requirements could negatively impact thousands of retailers that participate in SNAP—especially small-format retailers such as convenience stores—and the consumers who rely on the program for food access. Convenience stores represent the largest share of all SNAP-authorized retailers, accounting for nearly half of all locations nationwide.

If finalized, the proposed rule would put the 2014 Farm Bill’s higher breadth-of-stock requirements for SNAP retailers into effect, increasing from three to seven distinct varieties of food in each of the four staple food categories (protein, grains, vegetables/fruits and dairy). However, the proposed rule groups fundamentally different foods together, preventing retailers from counting many of the products they already carry as separate varieties for compliance.

“We appreciate USDA’s goal of expanding healthy choices for SNAP families. But as drafted, this rule would reduce food access and push tens of thousands of small-format stores out of the program,” said Margaret Mannion, NACS director of government relations. “We’re eager to work with USDA to make some targeted fixes so that we can support a final rule that more than doubles the amount of nutritious food on shelves, while still protecting the critical access that the convenience industry provides.”

The comments also noted that this rule would cause thousands of communities throughout the country to become food deserts, reducing competition and further increasing prices.

The comments explain the numerous challenges associated with the grains and dairy categories specifically.

In the comments, NACS said:

We support the Administration’s goal of expanding healthy options for individuals participating in SNAP. In its current form, however, the Proposed Rule will not achieve that outcome because of how narrow the grains and dairy categories are defined. This can be fixed simply by returning to the language of the 2019 proposed rule in the grains and dairy food categories.

Congress’s decision in the 2014 Farm Bill to increase the stocking requirement was intended to both improve access to nutritious food and minimize fraud, and the language was grounded in common-sense understandings about what constitutes different staple food varieties. Lawmakers understood that stronger standards would improve choice and strengthen program integrity, but they intentionally did not implement more burdensome requirements because doing so would have undermined access to food. Any proposal that disrupts that compromise risks excluding an entire retail channel that millions of SNAP customers rely on. USDA’s role is to faithfully implement Congress’s intent, not rewrite it.

The submitted comments include a wide range of feedback from retailers in the industry that participate in SNAP and data from a member survey. The findings show that convenience retailers overwhelmingly do not stock many of the items emphasized under the proposed rule (such as raw grains or grain-based flours) due to a lack of customer demand and limited shelf space.

Additionally, starting Jan. 1, 2026, retailers in eight states will face SNAP Food Restriction Waivers that restrict items deemed “non nutritious.” Hear Mannion discuss the coming change—and what retailers need to know—on NACS’ Convenience Matters Podcast.