{"id":10996,"date":"2025-03-08T10:06:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T17:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=10996"},"modified":"2025-03-08T10:08:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T17:08:05","slug":"gene-edited-non-browning-banana-could-cut-food-waste-scientists-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2025\/03\/08\/gene-edited-non-browning-banana-could-cut-food-waste-scientists-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Gene-Edited Non-browning Banana Could Cut Food Waste, Scientists Say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Given their poor record on research and testing, who knows what dangers there lurk. And given these rich megacorps are unethical, would you trust their GMO produce? Look what a mess their gene therapies were after they went around saying they were safe and effective, turning out to be neither. And if it’s not gene editing the produce, they have chemical sprays you can’t wash off to keep produce fresh on the shelf. Consequently, it wasn’t labeled, but a bag of apples from Sam’s Club once had the weirdest feeling film on them that didn’t wash off, which I was thinking had to be Gate’s Apeel<\/a>. We mainly buy fruit from Natural Grocers now as they refuse to carry any of that trash. Beyond shelf life and making money, they also need a sick population going into their medical and pharmaceutical wealth transfer scheme as well, and that’s an incentive to poison you further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2025\/mar\/07\/gene-edited-non-browning-banana-cut-food-waste-tropic-norwich<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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Fruit variety developed in Norwich remains fresh for up to 12 hours after being peeled<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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By Hannah Devlin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us have been guilty of binning a mushy, overripe banana \u2013 but now scientists say they have a solution with the launch of a genetically engineered non-browning banana<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The product is the latest in a series of gene-edited fruits and vegetables designed to have a longer shelf life. Scientists say the technology is emerging as a powerful new weapon against food waste, which occurs globally on an epic scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The banana, developed by Tropic, a biotech company based in Norwich, is said to remain fresh and yellow for 12 hours after being peeled and is less susceptible to turning brown when bumped during harvesting and transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFood waste is a big contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. It\u2019s very bad, clearly,\u201d said Gilad Gershon, the chief executivet of Tropic. \u201cBananas 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has also developed a slow-ripening banana that has been approved in several countries, which it plans to launch later in the year. Other research teams are working on lettuce that wilts more slowly, bruise-resistant apples and potatoes and identifying the genes that determine how quickly grapes and blueberries shrivel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An estimated 33% of the produce that is harvested<\/a> worldwide is never consumed due to the short shelf-life of many fruit and vegetable products. Bananas are among the most thrown-away foods, and a government survey suggests that Britons routinely bin 1.4m edible bananas every day. Since commercially grown bananas lack seeds they cannot be hybridised in the way most fruits can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBananas are asexual,\u201d said Gershon. \u201cThere\u2019s no real breeding in bananas. We\u2019re eating today the same bananas as our grandparents were eating in the 1950s. The only real opportunity we have to adjust the banana to meet the challenges the industry is facing is through gene editing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company worked out how to disable a gene responsible for the production of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, which causes browning. The same gene is silenced in Arctic apples, a genetically modified variety, which has been sold in the US since 2017, and blocking the production of polyphenol oxidase has been shown to work in tomatoes, melon, kiwifruits<\/a> and mushrooms<\/a>. In the bananas, Tropic made precise changes to existing genes without introducing foreign genetic material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company already has the go-ahead to sell the non-browning bananas, which are yet to be given a name, in the Philippines, Colombia, Honduras, the US and Canada. Gershon says the product is expected to comply with the requirements of the UK\u2019s Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act, once secondary legislation is passed later this year<\/a>, which could pave the way for the fruit to be sold in England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Martin Kottackal, of the Khalifa Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Abu Dhabi, says gene editing can be used to target several aspects of the ripening process. His team is investigating non-browning and \u201cstay green\u201d genes and another pathway involved in the production of ethylene, a gas released by fruits that triggers the ripening process. \u201cWe\u2019re working on tomato, lettuce, eggplant<\/a>,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re all in the pipeline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other teams are investigating genes that influence the waxy, protective layer, known as the cuticle, that covers the surface of a fruit. A thicker cuticle can protect against fungal infections in apples and tiny cracks in soft fruits, such as grapes and blueberries, which cause them to shrivel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof Cathie Martin, of the John Innes Centre in Norwich, said there was increasing interest in developing products with a longer shelf life. \u201cThe reason russet has been a favourite potato with McDonald\u2019s is because it doesn\u2019t go brown,\u201d she said. \u201cNon-browning is definitely a desirable trait.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin\u2019s team developed a genetically modified purple tomato<\/a> that is unusually rich in antioxidants and that is marketed in the US on the basis of its health benefits. Its antioxidant content also means it softens less quickly after becoming ripe. \u201cThe purple tomatoes have an amazing shelf life, at least twice and sometimes four times longer,\u201d she said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t promoted it that much, but I do think it\u2019s a big selling point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof Jonathan Jones of the Sainsbury Laboratory has led the development of a blight-resistant maris piper potato<\/a> that reduces the need for pesticide, but which is also protected against losses caused by blight in storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn agriculture and food, it\u2019s not one big problem, it\u2019s a lot of little problems and reasonable-sized problems,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are solutions to all of them in genetics. It allows you to approach, in a faster and more focused way, solutions to these problems.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Given their poor record on research and testing, who knows what dangers there lurk. And given these rich megacorps are unethical, would you trust their GMO produce? Look what a mess their gene therapies were after they went around saying they were safe and effective, turning out to be neither. And if it’s not gene […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10996"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10999,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10996\/revisions\/10999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}