GMO Apples Get The Nod, But Not Much Of A Welcoming Party
We have good news for all of you who find browned apple slices unappetizing. It's bad news, though, if you don't like scientists fiddling with your food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has given a green light to apples that have been genetically modified so that they don't turn brown when you cut them open.
The apples in question are modified versions of Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples. They're called Arctic Golden and Arctic Granny, and they were created by Okanagan Specialty Fruits, a small company in British Columbia, Canada.
The company inserted some extra genes into these apples. The genes are actually extra copies of genes that apples already possess, and as a result, the genes are "silenced:" They no longer produce the enzyme that's responsible for apple flesh turning brown when it's exposed to air.
According to Neal Carter, the president of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, the main market for these apples will be food service companies that serve sliced apples. Currently, they prevent the apple slices from getting brown through some other method, usually a preservative similar to the lemon juice in your kitchen.
Regulators at the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday they'd decided that the new apples pose no additional dangers. This means that farmers are now legally free to plant and sell them.
Okanagan Specialty Fruits, however, is also waiting for a letter of approval from the Food and Drug Administration, which is evaluating the fruit's safety for consumers. The FDA is also evaluating the safety of potatoes that were modified in a similar manner.
Yet other hurdles remain. Critics of genetically modified food, including Consumers Union, Food and Water Watch and Friends of the Earth, unleashed a barrage of protest Friday against the USDA's decision.
"It's interesting that USDA chose to approve this GMO apple on Friday the 13th — it's certainly an unlucky day for the apple growers, consumers and food companies that don't want this unnecessary new GMO," Lisa Archer, food and technology program director at Friends of the Earth, said in a statement.
The groups say the technology needs more critical scrutiny, and believe that the government's system for approving such crops relies too heavily on tests carried out by the companies themselves. The Environmental Working Group noted in a statement that the new apples may "thaw Congressional action on GMO labeling," fueling efforts to pass legislation that would require food manufacturers to label foods containing GMOs.
Some important players in the apple business, such as the Northwest Horticultural Council, also are opposed to the new apples. They are worried the advent of GMO apples will ruin the wholesome image of the entire apple section in supermarkets. There also are concerns that foreign markets, where the new apples are not yet approved for sale, might turn away from American apple exports.
Such uncertainties could convince many apple growers to shun the new apples, at least until major customers have decided whether or not to buy them. "I think it's going to be a very minor market," says Christian Schlect, president of the Northwest Horticultural Council, which represents fruit producers in Oregon and Washington. "It's hard to believe that there will be mass plantings of this."
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Transcript
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
If you don't like the sight of brown apple slices, we have news that might be appealing. If you don't like scientists fiddling with your food, you may have different feelings about this. Government regulators have approved the first genetically modified apple. Here to tell us about it is NPR's Dan Charles, who covers food and farming.
Hi, Dan.
DAN CHARLES, BYLINE: Hi, Rachel.
MARTIN: So, a genetically modified apple that does not brown? Tell me more. What does this mean?
CHARLES: There is a small company in British Columbia in Canada, Okanagan Specialty Fruits, that has inserted new genes into two familiar apple varieties - Golden Delicious and Granny Smith. These are extra copies of genes that apples already have. Well, the effect is it silences those genes so the apple produces less of the enzyme that makes the apple flesh turn brown when you cut it open.
MARTIN: OK so, I hear that and think, all right, I guess on the one hand that's a good idea. Your apples won't brown. But there's part of me that thinks that doesn't seem natural, I don't know if I want to eat that apple.
CHARLES: Right. Well, the company thinks there's a market for this. I guess potentially, theoretically, it could be people who cut up apples to put in their kids' lunches. But the big market, they say, is in food service. The sliced, prepared apples that currently they have to keep from turning brown in other ways - they wash them in some version of, you know, what you do in your kitchen with the lemon juice. But there are other people who do not want this apple at all. There are biotech critics who say the technology needs to be studied more carefully. There are consumer groups who say, you know, this shouldn't be foisted on the public. But there are also very important parts of the apple industry who say this is a really bad idea because they know that there's consumer concern about genetic engineering, about GMOs and they're worried that there will be a consumer backlash against all apples.
MARTIN: OK so, is this likely to appear on my grocery store shelves, and how will I know? Are they going to advertise it - apples that don't brown?
CHARLES: Well, the Department of Agriculture has now approved this, but that doesn't mean it's going to show up right away. It'll take several years at least, before they even have enough apple trees growing to provide a mass-market. If it showed up on supermarket shelves, you would know because it's called its name. These are Arctic apples. That's the trade name. If it was in food service people wouldn't necessarily know. So that's going to be, you know, an issue. But there's a lot of uncertainty about whether growers will actually grow a lot of these apples because they don't want to grow them if they don't think that they can sell them. And right now we don't know whether the big customers are going to sign up to buy these apples.
MARTIN: Important question - bottom line, do they taste different?
CHARLES: Well, I don't know personally because I haven't tasted them. But according to the company, they taste just like regular old Golden Delicious and Granny Smith apples.
MARTIN: OK. We'll see. NPR food and agricultural correspondent, Dan Charles.
Thanks so much, Dan.
CHARLES: Nice to be here. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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