Is Reddish Brown Hardened Core Rotten?

I bought bananas from a local grocery store in the Atlanta, GA area, it looked just fine on the outside and the banana looked good as well until I bit into it. The middle core was rotting and it was a reddish brown hardened core. I have photos and would like to send them to you. Is this a disease or was it from natural causes? Also, can you get sick from eating a small amount?

[Rachel]

Here are some pictures of the Banana. I would love some feed back on what is wrong. Are they rotten? Everything but the core looks normal.

[Admin]

It looks like Squirter Disease
The disease develops from infection at the time the bunches are cut into single fruits. It causes more damage to consignments which are transported over very long distances. The disease may also affect fruit during transportation and ripening. Both internal as well as external symptoms are common, but the disease is not detected until ripening. Coloring of the banana’s skin, from green to faint yellow or bluish tinge, is common after the fruit is removed from the ripening room. The retailers and consumers are the main losers.

More disease occurs when the fruit is packed singly. The disease is more or less confined to the winter months. Initially, the disease can be seen as a dark core, or a broken line of dark-red gum-like substance along the centre or near the end. The fruit becomes soft, and the flesh is transformed into a mushy liquid which squirts out at the base when slight pressure is applied. The disease is caused by the fungus Nigrospora usae (N. sphaerica), which produces submerged cottony-white mycelium, later turning brown. Initially, light brown conidia are borne in mass or clusters of conidiophore that help in secondary spread during ripening.

Thank you for your response; however, does this disease originate when growing or later when it's being shipped? I've heard so many stories about banana diseases and how some are incurable. Supposedly the Cavendish banana could one day be extinct... is squirter disease a threatening disease to bananas???

[Admin]

Another possibility is that the fruit had suffered an impact or a sustained pressure to the tip of the flower end. This will happen to bananas if cartons have begun to collapse or have been dropped when the fruit is just beginning to ripen.

I just dumped about a quarter of a banana in the trash because I got through that much of it before I saw this same phenomenon (although not as severe). Are bananas with this disease safe to consume? I know that no one would probably eat a banana that they discovered like this, but what about the portion that appears 'normal'?