KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This story is bananas: A concerned citizen’s call prompted an influx of Independence Police Department crime scene technicians at a local Hy-Vee store.
Police received a call around 10 a.m. from a person whose nephew bit into a banana that was discolored dark red.
The caller was worried the banana, which was purchased at a grocery store in the 1500 block of East 23rd Street, had been injected with human blood.
Technicians tested the banana “and preliminary tests did not detect the presence of blood in the banana,” according to a Facebook post from Independence police.
Staff at the Hy-Vee store pulled all of its bananas from the shelves as a precaution and peeled them, working with investigators to determine if any other bananas were similarly discolored.
“This incident is still under investigation but the discoloration is believed to be related to a produce-related fungus that can occasionally show up in bananas,” Independence police said.
The banana in question will be sent to a lab for further testing.
According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, red fungus inside a banana can be caused by several different plant diseases, but none are harmful to people.
