July 28, 2005

The Pending Banana Apocalypse. Frankenfruit battles The Fungus as traditional banana scientists look on helplessly. Action-packed collectors' first issue!
posted by goetter 19 years ago
  • I like red bananas. They're tastier and last longer on the shelf than yellow bananas. Mmmm ... bananas.
  • An interesting but alarming article. But I fail to share the concern about everyone moving to apples. Mmmm...apples.
  • Fusarium (Panama disease)in it’s various flavors (twenty-four Fusarium species in Hawaii alone) is a huge problem for all sorts of crops such as potatoes, wheat, and things with green leaves. Naturally it does not help things when US anti drug efforts include spraying it from planes as part of a strategy "to eliminate Colombia's total coca and opium poppy production by 2005". “The mycoherbicide currently being touted by the drug warriors is Fusarium oxysporum, which first caught the attention of U.S. authorities in the 1970s when a Coca Cola-owned coca plantation in Hawaii was decimated by a mysterious plague.” "Threats (from Fusarium) so compelling that Florida has suspended plans to test the fungus for its own anti-drug efforts."Motherjones. Just when I think things could not get any worse….. stupid stupid stupid. Then i think bananas, frozen bananas yummmmm...and i feel all better.
  • I could have sworn I read about this here several months ago, but I can't find the thread in the archives. In any case, this is catching people's attention more than a lot of recent food problems.
  • Well, there was this post, but I also recall reading about this not so long ago on MoFi. Still, this was a nice informative read. A quick look at Musa balbisiana makes me realize how nice we've had it eating the seedless Cavendish variety. Me, I like blue bananas - the "blue java" or "ice cream" banana!! Tastes like vanilla when ripe. Now that is yummmm!
  • Personally, I blame the deadly black tarantula.
  • MeFi catches up.