Gene-edited non-browning bananas: what you need to know - News + Articles

Mar 11, 2025

The gene-edited fruit could spell an end to squishy bananas for good.

There are certain things in a food-lover’s life that are inevitable. Avocados will instantly turn to mush mere seconds before you’re about to use them. Coriander will always be vaguely disappointing. Too much cheese will never be enough. And bananas will always turn brown.

Or will they?

Tropic, a biotech company in the UK, has developed a gene-edited ‘non-browning’ banana that they claim will stay fresh and yellow for up to 12 hours after being peeled. It’s also less likely to turn brown when knocked or bumped, such as during harvest and transportation. The company has done this by editing the genes that control the fruit’s browning. The taste and texture is not affected.

The banana has now been cleared for production in the Philippines – one of the largest banana producers in Southeast Asia. The banana has also been approved for sale in the Philippines, Colombia, Honduras, Canada and the US.

Credit: Mark Roper

Why make a non-browning banana?

The development of this banana could have a hugely positive impact on food waste. According to Tropic, currently more than 60 percent of exported bananas go to waste before reaching the consumer. With less browning occurring along the supply chain, fewer bananas will go to waste. Food waste is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and Tropic claims that this product has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by an amount equivalent to removing two million passenger vehicles from the road each year.

The company has also developed a banana with an extended shelf-life, which they’ve achieved by switching off the ethylene-producing mechanism in the banana (ethylene is the gas bananas produce that makes the fruit ripen and soften). This slow-ripening banana can stay on the tree for longer, improving yields for growers. And because these bananas are slow-ripening, they can be shipped more slowly, for less cost. According to Tropic, the fruit has around an extra 10 days of shelf life compared to a regular banana. This variety is expected to be launched later this year.

Will Australia be getting the non-browning banana?

There’s no word yet on whether we’ll be seeing non-browning ‘nanas on our supermarket shelves, however more countries are expected to approve the banana for sale in the future, so Australia might be on that list.

Last year, Food Standards Australia New Zealand approved a new genetically modified banana that’s resistant to Panama disease – currently one of the biggest threats to the global banana industry. For those of you playing at home, genetic modification is different to genetic editing – in genetic modification, scientists change something’s DNA by introducing DNA from another organism. With gene editing, the DNA is changed by altering the same organism’s genetic code.

Bananas turning brown

How do you stop bananas going brown?

Until non-browning bananas become available here, what can you do to stop your bananas from turning brown as soon as you bring them home from the shops? One way is to hang them up, so they’re not resting against any solid surfaces or other fruits. But keep them out of direct sunlight and away from heat – these will make the fruit ripen faster. To slow the ripening process, you can store them in the fridge, but don’t do this if the bananas are still green, as they’ll be likely to stay that way. You should also store bananas away from other fruits that produce ethylene. These include apples, pears, melons, avocados, stone fruits and tomatoes. And don’t store bananas in a plastic bag – they’ll turn to mush in no time.

What to do with brown bananas

Luckily, there are many delicious things to do with brown bananas. Once they start to turn brown, you can freeze them – just pop them in a zip-lock bag until you’ve got enough to make your favourite banana recipe. That could be banana bread, hummingbird cake, muffins, mousse, pudding or cookies. You can also try our banana, condensed milk and golden syrup cake, this decadent Nutella and banana mud cake or Natalie Paull’s banoffee sheet cake with caramelised banana. All so very a-peel-ing.