ALBANY, NEW YORK - A New York State Senator is seeking to bar people on food stamps and other state assistance programs from buying what are described as "luxury food items."

The bill, filed Feb. 17 by Republican Sen. Patty Ritchie, chairwoman of the Senate's Agriculture Committee, would require that any state-issued public benefits card that subsidizes food purchases could only be used for foods "not deemed luxury items" by the New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and food and beverages that are exempt from taxation in the state.

The bill also requires the state of luxury food items for which public subsidy cards and SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) benefits could not be used.

The Journal News is reporting that items barred from subsidized food programs would include energy drinks, steak and lobster, among others.

The idea of restricting the purchase of certain food is is not new. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on its website has posted a report on what it deemed "serious problems with the rationale, feasibility and potential effectiveness" of such actions.

The concerns raised by U.S.D.A. include "increasing the complexity of the program," the ineffectiveness of such laws from changing personal behavior and that the government has "no clear" guidelines on what is a healthful food item and what is not. Federal guidelines instead concentrate on the "total diet," the report states.

Aside from allowable foods, there is also fraud within the system. In Massachusetts, the state auditor identified $4.58 million in SNAP benefits fraud during fiscal 2015 and have targeted another $1.7 million in the first half of this fiscal year. But even that does not account for all of the suspected fraud.