Norwich-based agri-biotech company Tropic uses CRISPR-Cas9 technology to reduce polyphenol oxidase in bananas, bringing potential to reduce food waste
Precision-bred bananas designed to resist browning are a step closer to appearing on supermarket shelves following approval from Defra last week.
Norwich-based agri-biotech company Tropic has developed the banana using CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology.
The next step in bringing the product to market is for it to undergo checks by the Food Standards Agency.
According to Gilad Gershon, chief executive at Tropic, the banana resists browning for an extra day or two, and longer if chilled.
It also extends the product’s ‘green life’ after peeling and slicing, providing major points of difference to the widely sold Cavendish variety.
The development is hoped to also open up further opportunities to add bananas to prepackaged products such as fruit salads and breakfast pots.
Tropic also said that technology could reduce food waste and CO2-equivalent emissions across the banana supply chain by more than 25 per cent. Browning is believed to cause around 20 per cent of banana yield losses, according to the company.
The CRISPR-Cas9 technique enabled Tropic to alter three genes, preventing the plant from producing polyphenol oxidase, a naturally occurring enzyme that darkens the fruit when exposed to air.
Under the Precision Breeding Act 2023, ‘precision bred status’ is only given to fruit and vegetable crops developed through processes that could have occurred through traditional breeding methods or natural processes, and do not contain foreign DNA.
UK precision breeding regulations came into effect in November 2025, providing a regulatory framework for bringing genetically modified crops to market. No precision-bred organisms have yet been granted market authority for sale in England.
The banana has already received regulatory approval to be imported, sold and consumed in Japan and Brazil, and are already being grown in Latin America.
Gene editing technology has also already been used to prevent browning in mushrooms, sweeten the flavour of strawberries and pack more vitamin D into tomatoes, as well as resisting disease in potatoes.
