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The Arctic family of apples, pioneered in Summerland, has a new member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A variety called Arctic Gala has been given regulatory approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Okanagan Specialty Fruits announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It can now join Arctic Golden, Arctic Granny, and Arctic Fuji on supermarket shelves. The genetically engineered Arctic brand of apples don\u2019t brown like other apples after the flesh is broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe FDA approval of Arctic Gala, along with the earlier approvals from other regulatory agencies, is a testament to the safety and quality of OSF\u2019s innovative apple varieties,\u201d Muhammad Tahir, the company\u2019s director of research and regulatory affairs, said in a news release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese approvals highlight the rigorous testing and evaluation processes that OSF adheres to, ensuring that customers can enjoy Arctic apples with confidence,\u201d Tahir said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arctic Gala previously received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The company next plans to seek regulatory approval for its Arctic Honey and Arctic Pink apple varieties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers created the Arctic variety through a form of genetic engineering that involves turning off the enzyme responsible for browning in apples, polyphenol oxidase. That means apples that are sliced into remain looking fresh, extending the shelf life of sliced Arctic apple products to as long as 28 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey are capable of looking and tasting as fresh-picked fruit, not just for hours, but for days,\u201d the company says on its website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe variety is ideal for a wide range of applications, including salads, charcuterie boards, and lunch boxes,\u201d company president Don Westcott said. \u201cIts extended shelf life also makes it an excellent choice for food service providers, retailers, and customers alike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regulatory approval in both Canada and the U.S. for the first Arctic apple varieties was given in 2015, despite fears from opponents of genetically modified food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cApples brown for a reason and that\u2019s nature telling us that it\u2019s slowly degrading or oxidizing, so to remove that function of the biology of the apple doesn\u2019t seem to serve anybody really,\u201d Sarah Dobec, a board member of the Canadian Organic Growers Association said in March 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Canadian and U.S. regulators, who spent several years considering the Arctic apples, concluded they were safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of Arctic apples, Health Canada has stated: \u201cThe science behind the Arctic apple is quite simple. A gene was introduced into the Arctic apples that results in a reduction in the levels of enzymes that make apples turn brown when sliced. In every other way, the Arctic apple tree and its fruit are identical to any other apple.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Arctic apple \u201cstill has all its nutritional value\u201d, Health Canada says. \u201cThey are as safe and nutritious as traditional apple varieties,\u201d says the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The non-browning apples were developed by Neal and Louisa Carter of Summerland. After the first regulatory approvals were given, in recognition of the tremendous market potential of non-browning apples, Okanagan Specialty Frutis was bought by a U.S. company, Intrexon, for $31 million in stock and $10 million in cash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Researchers created the Arctic variety through a form of genetic engineering which involves the enzyme responsible for browning in apples being essentially \u2018turned off\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2298"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2300,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2298\/revisions\/2300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}