We have all experienced that fruit basket filled with beautiful, ripe yellow bananas, perfect on the day of the grocery trip and unrecognizable forty-eight hours later. Spotty, mushy, they often end up as an impromptu dessert or in the trash. For years, the question remains the same: how to avoid these quickly browning bananas?
Yet bananas are one of the most consumed fruits in the world, with nearly 100 billion pieces sold each year. A large portion is lost along the way: over 60% of exported bananas reportedly never make it to a plate. And in households, the same scenario repeats itself, from the fruit bowl to compost.
Why do bananas brown so quickly in the kitchen?
When a banana ripens, it releases a natural gas, ethylene, which speeds up its own ripening process and that of neighboring fruits. Its flesh also contains an enzyme, polyphenol oxidase, which reacts with oxygen when the fruit is cut or bruised. This chemical reaction turns the bright yellow to dark brown within a few hours.
It is possible to slightly slow down this process with simple actions. Keeping bananas at room temperature, away from apples, pears, or avocados, covering the stem to limit ethylene diffusion, or hanging them to avoid pressure points can add a few days. But for a fruit that stays yellow for more than ten extra days, the answer now comes from laboratories.
A non-browning banana thanks to biotech CRISPR
A British company, Tropic Biosciences, has developed a genetically edited banana that browns much more slowly. Their CRISPR technology acts like a pair of scissors on DNA: it deactivates genes linked to the production of the browning enzyme. As a result, the flesh would brown about 30% less within 24 hours after peeling and stay yellow for about a dozen hours once sliced.
Researchers have also created another line where ethylene production is significantly reduced. These fruits would gain over ten days of shelf life compared to a regular banana, allowing for slower transportation with less refrigeration. In a very fragile supply chain, which loses over 60%, the impact on food waste would be significant, with an estimated reduction of over 25% of emissions, equivalent to roughly two million cars taken off the roads.
When will this high-tech banana arrive in our homes?
This non-browning banana has been approved in the Philippines, followed by authorization for sale in North and Latin America. In Europe, the debate on new genomic techniques is ongoing, delaying its arrival in French stores. In the meantime, covering the tip, keeping other fruits separate, or blending very ripe bananas into smoothies or banana bread remain the simplest solutions.
