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The food we eat... Bananas!
Interesting video by Dole Fruits about the harvesting and packaging of bananas.
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
- Eat 'em while you got 'em........
Yes! We have no bananas? It could actually happen
Mark Koba | @MarkKobaCNBC
Monday, 21 Apr 2014 | 12:47 PM ETCNBC.com
Banana lovers take note: The world's supply of the fruit is under attack from a fungus strain that could wipe out the popular variety that Americans eat. "It's a very serious situation," said Randy Ploetz, a professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida who in 1989 originally discovered a strain of Panama disease, called TR4, that may be growing into a serious threat to U.S. supplies of the fruit and Latin American producers.
"There's nothing at this point that really keeps the fungus from spreading," he said in an interview with CNBC. While there are nearly 1,000 varieties of bananas, the most popular is the Cavendish, which accounts for 45 percent of the fruit's global crop—and the one Americans mostly find in their supermarkets.
The Cavendish became a favorite in the 1950's because it was found to be resistant to strains of Panama disease that hit the then-preferred Gros Michel variety of banana. But now the Cavendish, which makes up about 95 percent of global banana exports, is dying from the fungus strain Ploetz found. The strain has hit the banana crop in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The worry is that it will spread to Central and South America—where the U.S. gets the vast majority of its bananas.
The problem has gotten so bad according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, that countries that grow bananas have been warned to step up monitoring, reporting and prevention in order to tackle what it calls "one of the world's most destructive banana diseases, and threatens the income of millions of people."
MORE
Mark Koba | @MarkKobaCNBC
Monday, 21 Apr 2014 | 12:47 PM ETCNBC.com
Banana lovers take note: The world's supply of the fruit is under attack from a fungus strain that could wipe out the popular variety that Americans eat. "It's a very serious situation," said Randy Ploetz, a professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida who in 1989 originally discovered a strain of Panama disease, called TR4, that may be growing into a serious threat to U.S. supplies of the fruit and Latin American producers.
"There's nothing at this point that really keeps the fungus from spreading," he said in an interview with CNBC. While there are nearly 1,000 varieties of bananas, the most popular is the Cavendish, which accounts for 45 percent of the fruit's global crop—and the one Americans mostly find in their supermarkets.
The Cavendish became a favorite in the 1950's because it was found to be resistant to strains of Panama disease that hit the then-preferred Gros Michel variety of banana. But now the Cavendish, which makes up about 95 percent of global banana exports, is dying from the fungus strain Ploetz found. The strain has hit the banana crop in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The worry is that it will spread to Central and South America—where the U.S. gets the vast majority of its bananas.
The problem has gotten so bad according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, that countries that grow bananas have been warned to step up monitoring, reporting and prevention in order to tackle what it calls "one of the world's most destructive banana diseases, and threatens the income of millions of people."
MORE
K&R
