Very few fruits on the market are genetically modified. Only four GMO fruits are currently sold to consumers in the United States: certain apple varieties, papaya, pineapple, and some summer squash. That’s it. Despite widespread assumptions, most produce you see in the grocery store, including strawberries, seedless watermelons, and grapes, has never been genetically engineered.
Apples: Arctic Varieties
Arctic apples are engineered to silence the genes responsible for browning. In a conventional apple, an enzyme causes the flesh to turn brown when exposed to oxygen, like when you slice it open and leave it on the counter. Arctic apples produce almost none of this enzyme, so slices stay white for hours. This was one of the first GMO foods designed to appeal directly to consumers rather than to make farming easier. You’ll find them sold pre-sliced in bags at some grocery stores.
Papaya: Ringspot Virus Resistance
GMO papaya has been on the market since 1997 and exists because the Hawaiian papaya industry was nearly wiped out by a plant virus called papaya ringspot virus. Starting in 1987, researchers at the University of Hawaii and Cornell University spent a decade developing a papaya that could resist the disease. They inserted a small piece of the virus’s own genetic code into the papaya plant, which essentially vaccinated it. The result was two varieties: SunUp, a red-fleshed papaya, and Rainbow, a yellow-fleshed hybrid created by crossing SunUp with a traditional Hawaiian variety called Kapoho. Today, the vast majority of Hawaiian-grown papayas are bioengineered descendants of this work.
Pineapple: Del Monte’s Pink Variety
The Pinkglow pineapple, developed by Del Monte, is engineered to have pink flesh instead of yellow. Conventional pineapples naturally contain lycopene, the same pigment that makes tomatoes red. They also contain enzymes that convert that pink lycopene into yellow beta carotene. The Pinkglow pineapple was modified to produce lower levels of those conversion enzymes, so more lycopene stays in the fruit, giving it a rosy color. It’s sold as a specialty product at a premium price.
Summer Squash: Virus-Resistant Varieties
Some yellow crookneck and zucchini varieties are engineered to resist two common plant viruses. The modification works similarly to the papaya: proteins from the virus coat are expressed in the plant, giving it built-in resistance. Only a small fraction of the summer squash on the market is actually GMO, since conventional varieties remain widely grown.
Fruits That Are Approved but Not Sold
A few other GMO fruits have cleared regulatory hurdles but haven’t reached store shelves. The HoneySweet plum, developed by USDA researchers to resist plum pox virus, was approved years ago but has never been planted commercially. As of the most recent updates, there are no plans to sell it to consumers.
In Australia, a disease-resistant banana (line QCAV-4) became the first whole GM fruit approved by that country’s food safety authority and the first GM banana approved anywhere in the world. However, the university that developed it has said there are no immediate plans to commercialize it, since the disease it targets is currently managed through other methods. Any sale in other countries would require separate regulatory approval.
Fruits That Are Not GMO
Several fruits regularly get mistaken for GMOs because of their unusual appearance or because they seem “too perfect.” Seedless watermelons are probably the most common example. They’re created through a conventional breeding technique that manipulates chromosome numbers. Breeders treat young watermelon plants with a chemical called colchicine, which doubles the plant’s chromosome count. When that plant is crossed with a normal watermelon, the offspring has three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two. Three sets can’t divide evenly during reproduction, so the fruit develops without mature seeds. No genes from other organisms are inserted at any point. It’s an old-fashioned breeding trick, not genetic engineering.
Large strawberries are another frequent target of suspicion. No GMO strawberry has ever been approved or sold anywhere in the world. Modern strawberries are big because breeders have spent decades cross-pollinating plants with the largest fruit, gradually selecting for size generation after generation. Irrigation and fertilizer also play a role. The same goes for seedless grapes, large blueberries, and cotton candy grapes. All of these are products of conventional breeding or hybridization.
How to Identify GMO Fruits
You may have heard that a five-digit PLU code starting with “8” means a fruit is genetically modified. This is a myth. The International Federation of Produce Standards originally reserved the “8” prefix for GMO labeling but never actually used it that way. Today, the “8” prefix is simply being held in reserve as an extension of the regular numbering system once current codes run out.
The real way to identify bioengineered foods in the U.S. is through the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, which has been mandatory since 2022. Foods that contain bioengineered ingredients must carry one of several disclosures: the text “bioengineered food” or “contains a bioengineered food ingredient,” a green and white circular symbol with the word “BIOENGINEERED,” a QR code linking to more information, or a text-message number. For whole fruits like an Arctic apple or a Pinkglow pineapple, look for these labels on the packaging or the sticker on the fruit itself.