CANADA - One small step for apples, one giant step for Okanagan Specialty Fruits (OSF) Incorporated. The company is the developer of Arctic® Apples, which are the first non-browning genetically modified fruit to gain USDA approval for planting and distribution.
"The commercial approval of Arctic® apples, our company's flagship product, is the biggest milestone yet for us, and we can't wait until they're available for consumers," Neal Carter, President and Founder of OSF, said in a press release.
The Canada-based company used biotechnology to suppress the majority of the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in its apples, the agent responsible for the browning that occurs when apple cells are ruptured and can damage the benefits from consumption. It is because of this suppressant that the company doesn’t only believe its product is safe, but actually could be healthier than conventional apples.
“All we’ve done is reduce the expression of a single enzyme,” Carter said. “There are no novel proteins in Arctic® fruit and their nutrition and composition is equivalent to their conventional counterparts.”
With the approval of the USDA, the company is now focusing on working with growers to get Arctic® trees into the ground according to the release. Carter estimates the fruit will begin to be available towards the end of 2016 in small, test-market quantities.
