A genetically modified apple that doesn't brown when cut is now more a reaity than a picker-eater's dream.
Neal Carter of Okanagan Specialty Fruits helped found and developed the “Arctic Apple.” The apple has been modified to maintain it's clear bright colour and won't bruise or brown. He says the apple has exactly all the same proteins of a conventional apple. “We’ve turned off the enzyme that creates the browning,” he says.
Carter says he developed the apple to help decreasing apple consumption. He was inspired after he say how successful “baby carrots” were to the popularity of carrots.
Carter says, “You don’t have to worry about it going brown in 20 minutes or less. It can sit out in the afternoon and the kids can eat it… we've used the apples own genes to stop it from going brown, it is still an apple.”
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada have signed off on the safety of the apple.
Grocer Mark Boushey says that kind of apple could be good for business. He has seen a lot of waste when it comes to old, bruised apples. He says, “It happens more than you think, either the apple gets all wrinkle, bruised sometimes, you do throw away quite a bit.”
And he says he would consider selling them. “If it's a safe apple and a better apple, I have no objection to it, if it's improving a quality of food and if it's at a reasonable price.”
It still could will be a while before the Arctic apples hit shelves in Ottawa. Meaning people will have to rely on the regular ones, to keep the doctor away.
