Gene-edited bananas that do not turn brown after being peeled or sliced are now closer to reaching British supermarkets. Tropic, a Norwich-based agricultural-biotechnology company, developed the fruit, which they state has the same taste and texture but remains "fresh, yellow and appetising long after peeling and slicing".
Gilad Gershon, Tropic's chief executive, said the banana's flesh resists browning for an extra day or two, and longer if chilled. This innovation could facilitate the inclusion of bananas in prepackaged items like fruit salads and breakfast pots, while also potentially reducing waste.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) recently approved a marketing notice for the bananas, confirming their precision-bred status. This is one of two key requirements for market placement. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) notes that precision-bred status is granted only when genetic changes could have been achieved through traditional breeding methods, differing from genetic modification as it does not involve DNA from unrelated species.
The next stage for these bananas, and other crops with marketing approval, is a safety review by the FSA. Prof Cathie Martin of the John Innes Centre, who has worked on gene-edited tomatoes, stated that the duration of this review is not yet clear.
Tropic developed the bananas by altering a single gene using Crispr-Cas9 technology, which reduces the production of polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme responsible for browning. The company suggests that these non-browning bananas could reduce food waste and CO2-equivalent emissions in the supply chain by over 25%.