Dive Brief:
- The Tropical Race 4 fungus continues to decimate the Cavendish variety throughout the world, leaving manufacturers in need of alternate sourcing plans for food products that require bananas as an ingredient.
- Most U.S. commercial bananas originate in Latin America, a region yet to be affected by the fungus, but it spreads easily and remains in the soil.
- Research on alternatives is being conducted in locations including Puerto Rico at the USDA’s Tropical Agriculture Research Station and at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
Dive Insight:
Of the 200 different banana plants tested by researchers based in the Netherlands, less than 10% are resistant to the Tropical Race 4 fungus, reported NPR. They consist of wild varieties, which means they are full of seeds and it is hard to eat around them to get to the pulp, and plantains. Researchers don’t view these varieties of bananas as ideal replacements to Cavendish bananas.
A solution would be to breed these disease-resistant bananas with flavorful ones with the hopes of capturing the best traits found in both bananas. However, there is a challenge given the fact that breeders have to start out using bananas with seeds to create offspring, and then eventually create a variety without seeds so they are edible. Researchers say it can be done, and the expectation is that the efforts would produce multiple varieties of bananas, which can be use by food manufacturers.