Imagine a banana. And not one taped to the wall with scotch tape, but a banana that doesn't brown. A dream? No, because sometimes reality surpasses fantasy: a British startup has created a banana that doesn't brown when exposed to air. It's not a GMO and was even included in Time's "Best Inventions 2025" list. Created thanks to a technology capable of deactivating the gene responsible for oxidation, its market launch is scheduled for 2026.
How is Oxidation "Deactivated"?
How much time have we spent obsessively searching for recipes to use up those overripe bananas that turned black in the blink of an eye? Perhaps, however, this may no longer be a problem: the British startup Tropic Biosciences has developed a banana variety that remains yellow, firm, and tasty even after being peeled. We want to reassure you right away that, to achieve this, no particular substance was injected, but rather a gene was "switched off": thanks to the use of CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) technology, it was possible to deactivate the gene that encodes the polyphenol oxidase enzyme, which is responsible for the oxidation of a fruit when exposed to air. Therefore, it is not a genetically modified organism in the traditional sense, but a targeted modification of the banana's DNA.
For now, however, it seems that this new banana tech will not be available in for another while: as stated by the startup itself, its debut is scheduled for 2026 but only in the United States and Canada.
A Banana That Can Reduce Food Waste and Pollution
An innovation that not only potentially improves our food choices, but could also have a positive impact on the environment. As the startup's official website states: "Tropic bananas that don't turn brown have the potential to significantly reduce food waste and CO2 emissions along the supply chain by over 25%, as over 60% of exported bananas are wasted before reaching the consumer. This innovative product could contribute to a reduction in CO2 emissions equivalent to removing 2 million passenger vehicles from the roads each year." The long shelf life, therefore, would lead to a reduction not only in emissions related to its transportation, but also in the waste that, in addition to that identified during exports, occurs every day in our homes.
The variety the British startup is working on is the Cavendish, which accounts for approximately 90% of the global export market. However, as they themselves explain, this variety is sterile and cannot be traditionally grown, making it vulnerable to fungi and viruses. Therefore, Tropic plans to introduce, in addition to this banana variety, several other important products to the Philippines because "they are the leading producer and exporter of bananas in Southeast Asia, but their global market share has declined due to the prevalence of Panama disease, Tropic Race 4, which threatens 80% of global banana production." Therefore, using this type of gene editing technology could solve the problem of this type of disease, saving the lives of millions of bananas.
;Resize,width=767;)
