{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-you-say-tomato-i-say-waste/", "You Say Tomato, I Say Waste", "2017-03-30", "2017", "2017-03", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul released the latest edition of \u201cThe Waste Report,\u201d an ongoing project cataloguing egregious examples of waste within the U.S. government.\n\nTomatoes not quite tasting like they used to? Don\u2019t worry. Your tax dollars are on the case, with the National Science Foundation (NSF) spending over $1.5 million to research how to improve a tomato\u2019s flavor.\n\nOne would expect private companies to invest to make their products better, but Dr. Paul\u2019s Report asks if it is in the taxpayers\u2019 best interest to spend their hard-earned funds on what is already a highly popular, massive industry.\n\nYou can learn more in this week\u2019s \u201cWaste Report\u201d HERE or below.\n\n****\n\nTomatoes: they put the \u201cT\u201d in BLT, are found on burgers, and make salsa what it is. They are in ketchup, pizza sauce, soups, and more. In short, tomatoes are all over the place.\n\nIn fact, the average American consumes approximately 31.4 pounds of tomatoes each year, making it the second most consumed vegetable[1] in the United States after potatoes.[2]\n\nSo, given its versatility and popularity, one has to wonder why the National Science Foundation spent over $1.5 million trying to improve the taste of tomatoes.[3]\n\nMake no mistake, the research is about taste. In NSF\u2019s January press release, \u201cScientists develop genetic path to tastier tomatoes,\u201d the director of the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (where the funding came from) said, \u201cThis state-of-the-art analysis sets the stage to return it to the taste of decades ago by breeding informed by molecular genetics.\u201d[4]\n\nApparently the research found that modern tomatoes are less tasty because they have less sugar and other flavorful chemicals. Wait \u2026 sugar will make something taste better?\n\nIS THIS IN THE TAXPAYER\u2019S INTEREST?\n\nAccording to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), three fourths of American tomato consumption is in \u201cprocessed form\u201d: sauces, ketchup, juice, etc. Further, over a quarter of all tomato consumption occurs \u201caway from home.\u201d[5]\n\nThese facts seem to indicate there is a significant commercial interest in the tomato. So, one might ask why Uncle Sam is funding better tasting tomatoes and not Heinz, Papa John\u2019s, or Campbell\u2019s.\n\nThe answer may be that their raw taste really does not matter that much if the bulk of tomatoes are enjoyed as part of more complex foods.\n\nMAYBE IT\u2019S ECONOMICS\n\nCertainly one could argue that making a vegetable taste better will improve its economic viability. NSF even said that \u201c[b]reeding a more flavorful tomato could benefit consumers as well as the tomato industry.\u201d[6] One researcher on the project said, \u201cWe can make the supermarket tomato taste noticeably better.\u201d[7]\n\nSo, is the tomato industry hurting? As we have already noted, tomatoes are the second most consumed vegetable in the U.S. The U.S. is the second largest producer of raw tomatoes in the world, making it a $2 billion annual industry.[8]If only they tasted better.\n\nSTILL NO WORD ON MAKING\n\nBRUSSELS SPROUTS TASTE BETTER\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T21:30:05Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-you-say-tomato-i-say-waste/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7970449514687061, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}