Freaky fruit: Red banana puzzles experts
A PAIR of fruit lovers got a shock when they peeled a banana from a local shop to find it was bright red inside.
Experts said they had never seen a banana like it, and the strange fruit could be a genetic mutation.
-
Richard Sellars (53), of Manifold Road, Scunthorpe, the carer of Laura Weatherill (19), said he bought the bunch of bananas as a treat for her.
Mr Sellars said Laura was shocked at what she found when she bit into her favourite fruit.
He said: "Inside the flesh was bright red and hard, like a hardwood or something like that.
"Laura brought it straight to me to look at and at first I thought it was some kind of insect.
"I still don't know what it is."
Laura, who has learning disabilities and finds it difficult to communicate, was upset at the strange discovery but also curious to find out what had gone wrong.
But even the Royal Horticultural Society's principal horticultural adviser, Leigh Hunt, was baffled.
Mr Hunt said: "I have never seen anything like it that I can recall."
For the full story, buy today's Scunthorpe Telegraph.
11 Comments
View all
by Fair1983Lady
Tuesday, October 04 2011, 7:05PM
“Ok, I just had this happen to me last week. I bought some bananas from our local store and I was plann on making smoothies. The bananas looked perfectly ok. I cut open the first banana and it was red (blood-like) on the inside. I cut and split it right down the middle and the whole inside was like this. I freaked-out showed my husband and threw it out. If I were thinking I should have taken it back to the store, but I paniced. I then checked the rest of the bananas, but there was nothing. I threw them all out because they were bought in a bunch together. I have been researching recalls on bananas, but this the only one I have seen....”
by Nianotreve
Friday, September 16 2011, 10:59AM
“I too had one of these a few years back. i bit into it and imediatly spat it back out. We were talking about bananas in the office today and no-one believed me - this page seems to be the only google reference i could find, but it was enough to prove my story.”
by Murray, Glasgow
Tuesday, April 20 2010, 8:32PM
“i have also just bitten into a perfect looking banana that was hard, red and blood like inside the yellow flesh. I am worried and when trying to find out what it is this appears to be the only reference to this i can find on google.”
by miss watt, edinburgh
Friday, November 20 2009, 9:11PM
“i also had a banana with what looked like blood all hard inside this is not "red bananas" that u can get, the skin was fine ,but inside was very hard ,like peeling a orange. i called food standerds they tested it and told me it was not blood BUT they DONT know what it was ! And they have not called back with any more info . it was a fair trade banana from a scotmid store.I cant eat any now until i know what this red crystalised stuff is!!!”
by Marie Taylor, Oldham
Wednesday, March 04 2009, 12:36PM
“Ive just bitten into a banana and found some mad red bits in it aswell! in fact i swollowed a bit!!! :( what is it? thats why ive googled it to find out and found this page!! ewwww”