BATON ROUGE--The Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted 4-3 on Wednesday to advance a health and nutrition bill that would restrict artificial additives in school meals and seek federal approval to block soft drink purchases under the SNAP food-assistance program.
The most debated parts of the bill were the school meal restrictions and proposed limits on SNAP, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Lawmakers amended both, softening language around when and where the rules would apply and creating exceptions for certain types of drinks like water with electrolytes or added vitamins.
Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, sponsored the bill. He framed the legislation as part of a broader movement to confront the state’s chronic health issues.
The bill is part of the larger “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, movement, a national model launched by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. McMath said Louisiana must “prioritize health” in every policy decision.
McMath said the bill can be broken down into five major initiatives: banning certain food additives in school meals, adding nutrition education for doctors, requiring seed oil labeling in restaurants, limiting soft drink purchases under SNAP and mandating ingredient disclosures for food manufacturers.
Under the proposed law, Senate Bill 14 would direct the state to request federal approval to block SNAP recipients from purchasing sugary beverages or drinks with artificial sweeteners.
Several lawmakers voiced concern that the SNAP restrictions would unfairly burden low-income families.
Sen. Katrina Jackson-Andrews, D-Monroe, said the bill singles out low-income parents by limiting what their children can eat without offering increased benefits.
“We’re telling low-income parents: you can do everything on your own except for deciding what you and your kids eat,” she said. “We aren’t increasing SNAP benefits. We’re just telling them to eat healthier but not helping them with that extra cost.”
Jackson-Andrews offered an amendment that failed that would have exempted long-standing Louisiana-based food businesses from the bill’s provisions.
An amendment that passed made several exceptions, allowing drinks with milk, milk alternatives, added vitamins, or electrolytes to remain eligible for purchase.
Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette, said lawmakers should be mindful of vulnerable communities and called for industry input in any transition.
“When we discuss the minimum wage being $7.25 in the state, I want you to come with that same energy and then come back,” he said. “When we talk about living conditions, especially those under the poverty line, I get turned off when I hear statistics.”
McMath defended the bill, saying its goal is to improve health outcomes and target harmful ingredients, and not to hurt low-income individuals.
“The supplemental nutrition program is meant to supply nutritious food, and I will argue that soda is not nutritional,” he said, also noting that SNAP is the only federal food program that does not have nutrition regulations.
Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria, added that the price of healthy food needs to come down before expecting anyone to comply.
“If I go to McDonald’s and get a combo meal it’s $8 or $9, but if I get a salad, it’s $11,” he said.
Luneau also believes there’s too much emphasis being put on the SNAP, pointing out that alcoholic drinks are among the most sugary products available.
To this, McMath said he thinks it all starts at farms, and incentivizing those healthier foods. “The federal government subsidizes corn and wheat,” he said. “If we started subsidizing whole nutritional foods, it will begin to turn around.”
Most of the remaining conversation focused on a provision that would prohibit Louisiana schools that receive state funding from serving food with artificial colors and additives during regular school hours, beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
Lawmakers adopted an amendment to exclude concession stands and vending machines, as well as to remove the term “ultra-processed foods” from the bill and replacing it with specific banned ingredients.
Six additional artificial sweeteners were added to this banned list.
McMath said the changes reflect what he sees as a major shift in children’s health over the last several decades.
“Fifty years ago, physicians saw much fewer cases of diseases such as fatty liver disease and severe diabetes,” he said. “The foods that we are eating didn't exist 80 years ago. Our bodies don't know how to process these ultra-processed foods that are composed of synthetic ingredients essentially.”
Other parts of the bill received less attention but still moved forward.
Doctors and physician assistants in primary care, pediatrics, internal medicine and OBGYN would be required to complete at least one hour of continuing education in nutrition and metabolic health every two years.
McMath said it is surprising that more schools do not already teach it. “Over 90% of med schools do not require a nutrition course, which is wild to me because of how much food affects the body,” he said.
Restaurants that cook with certain seed oils would need to disclose that on their menus.
An amendment relaxed the requirement from a formal warning label to a general ingredient disclosure such as, “Some menu items were cooked in seed oils.”
Failure to provide this information would count as a health code violation. Food manufacturers would also need to disclose ingredients tied to health risks starting in 2027, either on the packaging or through a QR code linking to a detailed ingredient list.