Senate panel approves bill to make school lunches tastier

WASHINGTON (AP) — School meals could become a bit tastier under legislation approved by a Senate committee.

The bipartisan measure approved by a voice vote today is designed to help schools that say the Obama administration's healthier meal rules are too restrictive. Leaders of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee introduced the legislation Monday after negotiating an agreement to ease requirements for whole grains and delaying a deadline to cut sodium levels.

School lunch directors who have lobbied against the standards endorsed the deal, saying it would help them plan meals that are more appealing to students. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has backed it as well, saying the compromise maintains most of the healthier school meal rules that have been phased in since 2012.

The rules set fat, sugar and sodium limits on foods in the lunch line and beyond. They require more whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Schools have long been required to follow government nutrition rules if they accept federal reimbursements for free and reduced-price meals for low-income students, but the new standards are stricter.

The School Nutrition Association, which represents school nutrition directors and companies that sell food to schools, has said many of the standards are unworkable and lobbied to roll them back.

The compromise signals a truce between first lady Michelle Obama and congressional Republicans who have been at odds over the rules for more than two years. She has highlighted the standards as part of her campaign against childhood obesity and said she would fight "to the bitter end" to keep them intact.