A B.C. biotechnology company is entering the final stages of an application to the United States to market genetically modified apples that do not turn brown when sliced.
The technology employed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits inhibits browning of apple flesh by turning off a gene that produces the enzyme polyphenol oxidase, according to company president Neal Carter, an orchardist in the Okanagan since 1995.
The company has developed non-browning Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples that are included in a petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The company brands the non-browning fruit with the label "Arctic."
Varieties of apple such as the Golden Delicious tend to brown quickly when sliced and exposed to the air and show scuff marks from picking and transport, cosmetic deterioration Okanagan Specialty says its products will resist. The company is owned by a consortium of fruit growers, packers and other fruit industry firms, mainly from British Columbia.
"People buy with their eyes, they always pick the fruit that looks the best," Carter said.
Critics of the technology worry that a gene-modified apple would invoke consumer mistrust of a food that is iconic of natural goodness.
"This is a technology that supports industrial farming, it is not a product that addresses any consumer need," said Lucy Sharratt, coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network.
"Parents may not want to feed their children brown sliced apples or see them thrown away at school, but I doubt they'd prefer a genetically modified apple," Sharratt said.
The food service industry uses acidic solutions of water and vitamin C or lemon juice to keep sliced fruit from turning brown.
