Buy Arctic apples!
Non-darkening GM apples will be widely available in the USA
Natalia Pelezneva, Naked Science
Apples that are not covered with a brown coating on the cut were created by specialists of the Canadian company Okanagan Specialty Fruit. GM fruits are called Arctic Apples. The president of the company, Neal Carter, spoke in an interview about the first harvest of modified apples and the peculiarities of labeling GM products.
In early 2017, the US Department of Agriculture issued a permit for the sale of Arctic Apples in American stores. In autumn, Okanagan Specialty Fruit harvested its first major harvest: 82 kilograms of apples. The company plans to sell them in three months. This year, the technology of obtaining non–darkening fruits was applied to the Golden Delicious variety - it is included in the list of the 15 most popular varieties in the USA. Next year, Carter and his colleagues plan to modify Granny Smith green apples.
The goal of the creators of GM fruits is to make apples "convenient" for buyers and thus help the population of cities to eat more fruits. Carter comments: "We see that the level of consumption of apples per capita has been declining over the past decades, because they seem "inconvenient". When sliced and packaged carrots went on sale, the level of consumption of this root vegetable doubled." Okanagan Specialty Fruit hopes to repeat this success by selling sliced apples. Arctic Apples do not darken for three weeks.
When creating Arctic Apples, genetic engineering technology was used: the gene associated with the production of polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme that causes fruits to darken in the air, was "turned off" in apples. Despite this, there is no "GMO" marking on the fruit. Stickers with a QR code leading to the accompanying text on the company's website will be placed on the apples.
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