Post by pavel on Jan 18, 2016 14:50:54 GMT -6
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan Senate bill released Monday would revise healthier meal standards put into place over the last few years to give schools more flexibility in what they serve the nation's schoolchildren, easing requirements on whole grains and delaying an upcoming deadline to cut sodium levels on the lunch line.
While the legislation would placate some schools that have complained the rules are burdensome, it is greatly scaled back from an unsuccessful 2014 House Republican effort to allow schools to opt out of the rules entirely. The Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to vote on the measure on Wednesday.
After more than two years of public quarreling, the bill signals a possible truce for a group of school nutrition directors and first lady Michelle Obama, an outspoken proponent of healthier eating during her husband's seven years in office.
The School Nutrition Association, which represents school nutrition directors and companies that sell food to schools, said it is supportive of the legislation written by Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and the committee's top Democrat, Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.
Read more: bigstory.ap.org/article/0862fd00e0214025a8c30ae4b615fa27/bipartisan-bill-revises-healthier-meal-standards-schools
While the legislation would placate some schools that have complained the rules are burdensome, it is greatly scaled back from an unsuccessful 2014 House Republican effort to allow schools to opt out of the rules entirely. The Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to vote on the measure on Wednesday.
After more than two years of public quarreling, the bill signals a possible truce for a group of school nutrition directors and first lady Michelle Obama, an outspoken proponent of healthier eating during her husband's seven years in office.
The School Nutrition Association, which represents school nutrition directors and companies that sell food to schools, said it is supportive of the legislation written by Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and the committee's top Democrat, Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.
Read more: bigstory.ap.org/article/0862fd00e0214025a8c30ae4b615fa27/bipartisan-bill-revises-healthier-meal-standards-schools
