Fox News is echoing Republican attacks on healthy school food standards that come from a group receiving funding from companies that sell food to school districts. 

On the May 27 edition of Fox's Outnumbered, co-host Sandra Smith defended new Republican-sponsored legislation to roll back school nutrition standards, providing waivers from standards to those schools that report a financial loss in their food programs during the previous six months. Smith attacked the healthy food initiative as a program whose “economics” is “failing,” asserting that “90 percent of schools...are now reporting increased costs” and that the legislation simply takes into account the difficulties faced by school nutritionists, who she claimed “just want some flexibility because it is being forced down their throat right now”:

While Smith did not disclose the source of her information, the Associated Press notes the claim that “90 percent of schools that are now reporting increased costs” and that school meal programs are losing money come from the School Nutrition Association (SNA), 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.”

SNA receives a significant amount of funding from companies that sell food to schools. Among its "major" contributors is Schwan's Food Service, which makes pizzas and sandwiches for schools and similar operations. Other SNA donors include more companies that sell food to schools, such as ConAgra, Kellogg's, Pepsico, Coca-Cola, Domino's Pizza, and Tyson Foods.

The Washington Post reported that the SNA, in a “dramatic change” of position, supports the Republican-backed waivers. The Post noted that White House assistant chef and nutrition policy adviser Sam Kass opposed the change, meaning that “congressional Republicans are choosing to favor corporate preferences over the recommendations of nutritionists and physicians.” The food industry has previously sought to weaken food standards, according to the Post, succeeding in 2011 to change rules so that pizza with tomato sauce could be counted as a vegetable.