Scientists develop revolutionary banana that could make brown peels a thing of the past: 'An amazing shelf life'

Scientists at Tropic, a pioneering agricultural-biotech company, have developed a gene-edited, non-browning banana that stays fresh up to 12 hours after being peeled, a breakthrough that could significantly reduce global food waste.

As The Guardian explained, the upgraded bananas are also less vulnerable to turning brown if they're knocked around in shipments. That's excellent news, as the popular fruit is the most wasted supermarket food, mostly because consumers prefer perfectly yellow bananas, per Food Dive. 

They're the largest source of food waste in Sweden and a major contributor to the issue in the United Kingdom, where around 1.4 million edible bananas get tossed every day.

"Bananas are the fourth-biggest crop globally, but also one where the perishability is very high. Some estimates say that 50% of the bananas grown are never eaten," Tropic CEO Gilad Gershon told The Guardian.

"The only real opportunity we have to adjust the banana to meet the challenges the industry is facing is through gene editing," he added. 

To create the revolutionary bananas, Tropic scientists deactivated a gene that helps produce polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme that leads to browning in bananas. According to a company news release, the gene-edited bananas may reduce food waste and carbon pollution in supply chains by over 25% — the equivalent of taking 2 million cars off the road each year. 

The bananas have been cleared for sale in the Philippines, Honduras, Colombia, Canada, and the United States. They're also expected to hit store shelves in the UK once legislation regarding genetically modified foods passes later this year.

Using gene editing to keep fruit from going brown as quickly has caught the attention of other researchers, including Cathie Martin, a project leader at John Innes Centre in Norwich whose team developed a genetically modified purple tomato that has been approved for sale in the U.S.

"The purple tomatoes have an amazing shelf life, at least twice and sometimes four times longer," Martin told The Guardian. "We haven't promoted it that much, but I do think it's a big selling point."

Since around one-third of all food grown for human consumption goes to waste annually — a staggering 1.4 billion tons of food — prolonging the shelf life of fruits and vegetables will go a long way toward addressing the problem. 

What's the most common reason you end up throwing away food? Bought more than I could eat 🛒 Went bad sooner than I expected 👎 Forgot it was in the fridge 😞 Didn't want leftovers 🥡 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

In addition to non-browning bananas, Tropic has also developed a slow-ripening banana that stays fresh longer, which it aims to launch in several countries later this year. It's also using gene-editing technology to create bananas that are resistant to Panama disease and Black Sigatoka disease. 

The former is a devastating fungal disease that threatens 80% of global banana production and is "one of the most serious threats to food security," per Tropic. Black Sigatoka is also a fungal disease that forces farmers to use enormous amounts of pesticides to control it, costing them more than $2,000 per 2.5 acres annually.

Developing resilient bananas that can withstand these diseases will result in less pesticide use, more bananas being sold, and greater prosperity for farmers. 

Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.