Duff Goldman Has An Ominous Message For Banana Fans

The humble banana. There's few foods as common as the banana, which is frequently one of the cheapest items on a grocery store's shelves. You can walk out with pounds of them for just a few dollars and it's hard to believe there might ever be a time when bananas aren't adorning the produce aisle with their cheery yellow looks, which is why Twitter was a little surprised when Food Network chef Duff Goldman, of "Ace of Cakes," dropped a bombshell on them regarding the changes about to take place with the fruit. 

Though he will offer insight on everything from wearing low rise jeans to who to vote for in Maryland, it's not often that Goldman gets scientific. So, when he claimed that "bananas as you know them will cease to exist VERY SOON. The end is nigh! Repent! The Cavendish banana will soon go the way of the Gros Michel," it was important to determine whether he was playing a strange online prank, or if he knew something about the banana world that most people didn't.

Duff Goldman isn't the only person who is crying out against the end of the banana. BBC News is heralding its demise as well, explaining that the fruit, specifically the Cavendish banana, is being impacted by a fungus known as Panama disease (also called banana wilt) — and it is threatening to change the banana world forever. 

Business Insider did a full report on the history of the Cavendish and the power of this blight. "Ninety-nine percent of bananas exported to developed countries are just one group called the Cavendish," said the report. "And the Cavendish is vulnerable to [Panama disease], a fungus that's now ravaging banana farms across the globe."

One of the problems impacting the Cavendish, according to Fernando Garcia Bastidas, a breeder for KeyGene, is that they "are sterile" and "don't have seeds," which means that all Cavendish carry similar genetics, making them all very much alike. This causes them to be, as Newsweek put it, "intensely vulnerable to disease outbreaks."

As of this time, there aren't many replacement choices for the Cavendish banana. Wired reports there has been some success with genetically modified Cavendish, but these are technically GMOs, which means they might not be able to sell in all parts of the world — unless laws change.

For now, it's best to make that banana bread while you can, because it soon may be hard to find the ingredients.