In a major victory, the United States Senate last night unanimously approved a bipartisan amendment, authored by Senator Susan Collins, to the Fiscal Year 2012 Senate Agriculture Appropriations bill that would protect the flexibility of schools to serve healthy vegetables in the National School lunch and breakfast programs.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed a rule that would limit servings of a certain category of vegetables that includes white potatoes, green peas, lima beans, and corn, to a total of one-cup per week in the National School Lunch Program.

The proposed rule would also ban this category of vegetables from the School Breakfast Program altogether.

The amendment, coauthored by Senator Mark Udall (D-CO), and cosponsored by several of her colleagues including Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), prevents USDA from moving forward with this arbitrary, maximum limitation, while keeping the current requirement that school meals be consistent with the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans.