Why is ethylene approved for ripening organic bananas?
A- Ethylene is a natural occurring gas and it’s synthetic version is identical. Ethylene is approved by the organic regulations in North America, Canada, The European Community and Japan. Ethylene when injected in a ripening chamber with pallets of green bananas will trigger the ripening process of the bananas. It can be considered artificial only in the sense that the bananas which are harvested young and thus green are put in contact with the gas by men in a chamber. The process itself and resulting transformation of starch in to sugars is exactly the same as in nature. If bananas would be harvested ripe from the tree and thus yellow they would not be able to travel to the markets without rotting and becoming puree during the journey, attract fruit flies, become vinegar, etc.
