Dive Brief:
- Apples that won't brown could be coming sooner than you might have thought: The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave its blessing to Arctic Granny and Arctic Golden apple planting Feb. 13.
- Canada's Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc. developed the apples which, according to the USDA, are not likely to pose a plant pest danger or to greatly affect the human environment.
- Engineered to lower food waste and for a greater fresh-sliced fruit market, wide distribution of the apples won't start for a few years.
Dive Insight:
From a potato to an apple, it appears GMOs are the wave of the future — or so the USDA is thinking. As with anything GMO-related, not everyone is on the same side. Wenonah Hauter, the executive director of Food & Water Watch, called the apple "simply unnecessary," and more debates are most likely not far behind.
Meanwhile, that aforementioned potato has yet to get FDA approval, and the apple industry has seen some ups and downs as of late, though apparently the listeria outbreak associated with Bidart Bros. apples has ended.