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. School nutrition directors and first lady Michelle Obama could be headed for a truce on healthier meal standards for the nation’s schoolchildren. The legislation would ease requirements on whole grains and delay 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 a 2014 House Republican effort to allow schools to opt out of the rules entirely. In a statement, the School Nutrition Association said it worked alongside the White House and the Agriculture Department in helping the senators reach agreement.
