Arctic Apple Issues

There has been a lot of talk regarding the newest entry into the apple market. It’s called the Arctic Apple and what has caused all the uproar is not that it’s a non-browning apple but that it is a genetically modified apple and proud of it. Todd Fryhover, President of the Washington Apple Commission says that so far the FDA has not certified the Arctic apple.

FRYHOVER: I think in general the industry is in support of science. We always support science based decision making processes and that makes a lot of sense. The dilemmas we have of course number one is there a need? We certainly have enough apples and we have enough non-browning apples so why we need a non-browning Golden Delicious or Granny Smith is really beyond me.

Fryhover says there is another, more important question to be asked.

FRYHOVER: How is the consumer going to react to this? What about all the 99.95% of apples that down the road will be conventional and what additional costs are these growers going to have to bear to prove that their fruits are conventional and not GMO. Those are the things that really bother us the most, not the science. We understand that completely.

So on one hand it’s a good idea but at the same time it’s not such a good idea.

FRYHOVER: We are the symbol of health and nutrition. Non-browning is something that the slicing community has said they don’t even have any interest in, so what’s the point? The one variety that is decreasing in the State of Washington is Golden Delicious. These new varieties are just cannibalizing that Golden market, number one. And number two, the processors have no interest. They don’t want a GE apple. Are you kidding me?

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.