Brown apples

USDA Asked To Approve Non-Browning GMO Apple

A Canadian biotechnology company has asked the U.S. to approve a genetically modified apple that won’t brown soon after its sliced, saying the improvement could boost sales of apples for snacks, salads and other uses.

U.S. apple growers say it’s too soon to know whether they’d be interested in the apple: They need to resolve questions about the apple’s quality, the cost of planting and, most importantly, whether people would buy it.


“Genetically modified – that’s a bad word in our industry,” said Todd Fryhover, president of the apple commission in Washington state, which produces more than half the U.S. crop.


But Neal Carter, president of the company that developed the apples, said the technology would lower the cost of producing fresh slices, which have become a popular addition to children’s lunch boxes, and make apples more popular in salads and other quick meals.


Carter’s company, Okanagan Specialty Fruits of Summerland, British Columbia, licensed the non-browning technology from Australian researchers who pioneered it in potatoes. Essentially, the genes responsible for producing the enzyme that induces browning have been silenced in the apple variety being marketed as “Arctic.”

Let’s see – apples that may not be the “prettiest” or frankenfood? So do you really want to risk your and the planet’s health for a perfect shaped apple?

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