FALSE: Watermelons with cracks in their flesh are not unsafe to consume
The cracks are linked to weather and pollination conditions, and are not necessarily linked to growth accelerating chemicals
A blog post claiming that cracks in the flesh of a watermelon are an indicator that growth-accelerating chemicals have been used on it, and that such fruit can cause tumours and neurological issues if consumed is FALSE.
According to the post, if a watermelon has big holes inside it, it should be thrown away immediately, adding that splits in the flesh of watermelon are an indicator that it is synthetically created and, if consumed, can lead to the development of tumours and neurological problems that are very hard to treat.
The claim seems to have originated from a 2018 YouTube video giving tips about how to choose a good watermelon. The video was also shared on the Real News blog.
The video refers to reports from 2011, when a number of news stories featured reports of exploding watermelons in China. CBS News reported that farmers in eastern China were misusing the plant growth accelerator forchlorfenuron on their watermelon crops. The growth accelerator, combined with wet weather and poor selection of the crop variety, left farmers with many acres of the burst fruits.
A 2014 study by University of Delaware researcher Gordon Johnson showed that the distance of the fruit from its pollinating source is to blame for the hollowing disorder in watermelon.
The study also found that bad weather early in the growing season increased the risk of hollowing in watermelons. “It occurs in poor weather conditions, and oftentimes in the early watermelons,” Johnson said.
With inadequate pollination, he explained, “there is reduced release of the plant hormone that controls the development of storage tissue leading to hollowing.”
Wenjing Guan, a clinical engagement assistant professor of horticulture at Purdue University, says hollowing of watermelons is a physiological fruit disorder and poor pollination is the primary reason causing hollow heart.
The National Watermelon Promotion Board (NWPB) also refutes the claim that watermelons with internal splits in the flesh — known as ‘hollow heart’- are harmful when consumed as food. The board says these watermelons are perfectly safe to eat and are often sweeter because the sugars tend to concentrate along the splits.
This view is supported in an article on the Gardening Know How blog, which explains that hollow heart is not a disease of the watermelon, but a failure in the seed production process, and does not compromise the safety of the fruit. The internal cracking may be caused by variable growing conditions, including heat waves and extremely wet or cold weather.
PesaCheck has looked into the claim that cracks in the flesh of a watermelon are an indicator that growth-accelerating chemicals have been used, and that such a fruit can cause tumours and neurological issues if consumed, and finds it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Researcher Sylvia Makinia and edited by PesaCheck News Editor Enock Nyariki.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water/sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local media and other civic watchdog organisations in 14 African countries.
