Fox News tried to blame First Lady Michelle Obama's healthy school lunch program for reports of financial woes and layoffs at school districts, but it failed to disclose that the study it cited comes from a group supported in part by food industry companies that sell their product to schools, including PepsiCo, General Mills, and Domino's.

On the August 26 edition of Fox News' Special Report, host Bret Baier highlighted the findings of a new study from the School Nutrition Association (SNA) that claims implementation of the National School Lunch Program's healthier nutritional standards has led to school district worker layoffs and financial struggles. The standards were established after Congress passed the Healthy Hunger-free Kids Act of 2010, the centerpiece of First Lady Michelle Obama's “Let's Move” initiative.

Baier told viewers, “School is back, or soon will be, and healthy school lunches are resulting in unhealthy school finances.” He went on to cite the SNA study's claim that “56 percent of districts have lost lunch participants because of the new healthy standards championed by the first lady” and that “seven of 10 [school districts that responded] say the standards have hurt the financial situation of the local meals programs, with almost half choosing to reduce staffing.”

But Baier failed to disclose that the School Nutrition Association, which describes itself as “a national, nonprofit professional organization representing more than 55,000 members who provide high-quality, low-cost meals to students across the country,” has deep ties to the industry that sells food products to school districts. As Media Matters has previously written, the SNA lists Schwan's Food Service, a company that specializes in providing pizza to schools and restaurants, as a “major” donor. The association has also accepted funding from PepsiCo, General Mills, ConAgra, and Domino's Pizza. Schwan and PepsiCo also hold seats on the SNA's board of directors.

Schwan, ConAgra, and General Mills were also among major members of the food industry behind successful lobbying efforts to preserve pizza's classification as a vegetable for the purpose of school nutritional standards in 2011.

Previously

Fox Ignores Food Industry Ties In Attack Against Healthy School Lunches

Fox News Host Suggests Healthy School Nutrition Initiatives Cause Mental Problems

Ben Stein On Fox: Michelle Obama's Healthy School Lunch Initiative Is Orwellian