Scientists create apple-sized seedless watermelon ready for summer (2)

"The apple watermelon is seedless, sweeter and the skin is thinner," he said. "It will be more expensive than regular watermelons but not beyond consumers' purchasing power."

Zhang Qian, 31, a watermelon lover in Dongcheng district, said she would buy one out of curiosity.

"Genetic engineering isn't widely understood by us regular consumers. As for me, I can only trust those naturally grown fruits," she said.

Han Bin, director with the National Center for Gene Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, suggests consumers should not worry too much about genetic engineering.

"New kinds of crops or fruits from conventional crossbreeding are safe," he noted.