Durian Fruit Smell Triggers Evacuation of German Post Office

Last updated on May 6th, 2021 at 09:09 am

Thai durian fruit caused pandemonium at a post office in a German town in Bavaria, sending six postal workers to hospital and evacuation of the post office, according to CNN. The incident took place last Saturday at a post office in German town of Schweinfurt. The indecent happened after staff noticed a pungent smell emanating from a package.

A statement from Schweinfurt police said that, due to the unknown content of the package, it was initially unclear whether the suspect contents posed a risk. Adding that 12 postal workers complained of nausea. Six were sent to hospital as a precaution. Six ambulances and seven other emergency vehicles rushed to the scene over the durian smell. The entire post office was evacuated, with around 60 employees forced to leave due to the durian smell. The package was opened and found to contain four Thai durian fruits. The durian fruit was being sent to a local resident from a friend in Nuremberg. The Durian fruit was eventually delivered to its intended recipient.

This is not the first time that durians have caused a problem. In November 2018, an Indonesian aircraft was temporarily grounded after a passenger complained about durian smell in the cabin.

Scientists have answered one of nature’s most pungent questions: what gives Durian the world’s smelliest fruit its distinctive aroma. Scientists say they have mapped the genome of the durian. Known throughout Southeast Asia as the “king of fruits” for its unique smell, flavor and formidable spiny appearance. They identified a group of genes responsible for odor compounds called volatile sulfur compounds. They found that these genes become highly activated as the fruit ripens, driving its unusual smell. Unlike other plant species that typically have one or two copies of these genes, this species boasted four copies, demonstrating that VSC production is, as Teh put it, “turbocharged” in durian fruit. The researchers said this odor may be important to the durian in the wild, helping to attract animals to eat it and disperse its seeds. The scientists sequenced the genome of the Musang King variety of durian fruit. Even more discovering it has about 46,000 genes, nearly double the number in the human genome. They were also able to trace the evolution of the fruit back 65 million years. Finding an ancient relationship to the cacao tree, whose seeds produce chocolate.