Thanks to genetic engineering, pink pineapple isn’t just a product of Photoshop, anymore. It’s an actual product and it’s coming to a grocery store near you, very soon.
Del Monte Fresh Produce, one of the world’s largest produce suppliers, has been working on pink pineapple for over a decade, and in December of last year, the company got permission from the FDA to sell them in the United States. Del Monte has already partnered with Dole, to have the new pink fruit grown in Costa Rica and Hawaii, and while it hasn’t reached store shelves just yet, photos of the unusual-looking pineapple have been popping up on online social networks lately.
Photo: skaught88/Instagram
Del Monte’s scientists have genetically engineered the new pineapple variety to produce lower levels of an enzyme present in conventional pineapple that converts the pink pigment lycopene to the yellow pigment beta carotene. “Lycopene is the pigment that makes tomatoes red and watermelons pink, so it is commonly and safely consumed,” the FDA said in a statement.
News of the new pink pineapple broke out in December, 2016, when the FDA gave Del Monte the green light to commercialize it in the United States, but, at the time, nobody actually knew what the fruit looked like. Now, thanks to a series of photos posted on Instagram, we know that the fruit is pink in both flesh and peel, and can sometimes have a neon pink hue as well. It’s pretty strange, if you ask me, but it’s definitely an eye-catcher.
Del Monte claims that this new variety will be “extra sweet”, compared to regular pineapple.
No word yet on when the first batch of pink pineapples will be available in stores, but judging by the size of the fruits in this photos, I’m pretty sure you’ll be feasting on pink goodness this summer.
Pink is apparently a very popular color with fruit genetic engineering experts, as we already have pink flesh apples as well. And speaking of interesting fruits, remember those cotton candy-flavored grapes that we features a few years back?
via Well&Good