Bateeh Daroun and the Honey Lie
A rumor circulated on social media warning against consuming seedless fruits, claiming they are lab-grown, genetically modified, or cultivated in artificial soil, and are therefore unnatural and unfit for human consumption. In reality, seedless fruits are no different from their seeded counterparts, and those who claim otherwise are conflating several distinct concepts.
How are seedless fruits formed? Here, the genius discovery of the scientist Darwin comes into play, dating back 166 years, regarding natural mutations. Some plants naturally produce fruits without viable seeds due to genetic mutations. For example, seedless watermelon is produced by crossing a regular watermelon (diploid, with two sets of chromosomes) with a watermelon that has doubled chromosomes (tetraploid, with four sets), resulting in sterile offspring (triploid, with three sets). This is known as conventional plant breeding and has no relation to the “artificial” laboratory manipulation that some people imagine.
Additionally, parthenogenesis (reproduction without fertilization) occurs in some plants, such as bananas and pineapples, meaning no fertilization takes place at all. The seedless banana is a very old example; bananas are naturally sterile hybrids that humans have propagated through cuttings rather than seeds for thousands of years. Furthermore, grafting and vegetative propagation—such as multiplying seedless fruit varieties (like many types of grapes, citrus fruits, and tomatoes) by grafting cuttings onto rootstocks instead of growing them from seeds—are ancient agricultural techniques, not something strange or “unnatural.”
It is worth noting that farmers have practiced selective breeding for a long time, choosing seedless or low-seed fruits long before the advent of modern genetic engineering. As for the claim about cultivation in artificial soil, this is unrelated to seedless fruits, which are grown in regular soil, just like seeded varieties; the type of soil has no bearing on the matter. Moreover, seedless fruits are perfectly safe and nutritious. The idea that they are less natural or harmful is unfounded, as they undergo the same growth and ripening processes, and any regulatory procedures (if applicable) that apply to other products apply to them as well.
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But what are genetic mutations in animals, including humans, and plants, and how do they work? Mutations are changes that occur in the genetic material within DNA or in the arrangement of genes. These changes can be very small or relatively large. Simply put, one can imagine a gene as instructions written inside a cell, and a mutation as an error or modification in these instructions. This change may occur naturally during cell division or due to external factors such as radiation, certain chemicals, or viruses. In humans, a mutation may be inherited from one parent and present in every cell of the body from the beginning, or it may be acquired later in only some cells. Mutations can be harmful, causing genetic diseases or increasing the risk of cancer; beneficial; or neutral, with no obvious effect.
The same applies, naturally, to other animals and plants. A mutation is a change in genetic material, but its effect varies depending on the organism and the location where the change occurred. Specifically in plants, some mutations can be passed on to subsequent generations more easily than in some animals, because their reproduction differs in terms of cells and parts capable of inheritance. Mutations are the primary source of genetic diversity among living organisms, playing a major role in evolution and differences between individuals and species. Without them, little new genetic diversity would emerge, making them crucial in biology.
Note: All claims and promotional campaigns suggesting that honey produced from a specific source offers miraculous healing properties are exaggerated. The Food and Drug Authority should take action to stop this misleading commercial exploitation.
Ahmed Al-Sarraf
