“Scientifically speaking, seedless cherries are not a major challenge (…) We will be ready in the next decade. (…) Then the cherries will grow on bushes. They will be able to grow anywhere, and we will be able to eat them all year round.” a German newspaper (Süddeutsche Zeitung) reported in March 2024, quoting promises made by the US company Pairwise.

The start-up Pairwise has filed numerous patents on plants derived from new genetic engineering (or new genomic techniques, NGTs) and collaborates, amongst others, with the Bayer Group. Also in development: NGT blackberries without thorns and NGT mustard leaves that are less pungent as otherwise typical for this plant. The mustard is intended to be eaten in a similar way to lettuce (Karlson et al. 2022).

None of these products are necessary for our diet; rather they are intended to make a future without seeds, thorns and (less) pungency appealing to consumers, thus making food from the ‘gene lab’ consumer-friendly, popular and profitable. At the same time, plants such as brown mustard in particular can reproduce uncontrollably in the environment and spread new gene combinations to wild plants with consequences that are difficult to predict.

It is doubtful whether the consumers will go along with this. After Pairwise launched its less-pungent NGT mustard in the US in 2023, it was withdrawn from the market in February 2024 because the plants were more difficult to market than expected. Marketing is now to be continued by Bayer. It remains to be seen whether the Bayer Group will succeed in convincing consumers to eat the NGT mustard leaves.

Whether seedless cherries are really what our society needs (and will buy in future) is yet to be seen, if they actually come onto the market. In any case, there are already some good counterarguments, as e.g. written in the German newspaper (Die Zeit) under the headline: ‘Save the cherry pit!’. And one thing should also be clear: if this NGT fruit has no pits, does not grow on trees and can be harvested all year round, then it is certainly not a cherry.

Publication Year: 

2025

Further Information:

Karlson, D. et al. (2022): Targeted Mutagenesis of the Multicopy Myrosinase Gene Family in Allotetraploid Brassica juncea Reduces Pungency in Fresh Leaves across Environments.