New Post has been published on Nutso News
USDA approves sale of genetically engineered apples that don’t go brown
There’s a new Canadian creation set to take the U.S. by storm, and it’s not the BlackBerry Passport and Classic that are heading to AT&T. It’s a real fruit, not just a gadget named after one.
These are Arctic Apples, a genetically engineered creation of scientists working for the Okanagan Specialty Fruits company in British Columbia, and they’ve just been approved for sale by the USDA. They’re virtually identical to any other apple you’d buy at the grocery store, with one key difference: they don’t go brown after being cut. They can even shrug off bruises, too.
The company says that they just had to turn off a single enzyme to make it happen. No proteins have been modified, and founder Neil Carter says that both the flowers and fruit from their Arctic Apple trees are “of the same composition and analysis” as other apples.
Okanagan is careful to call out that the apples can’t avoid every kind of discoloration. Arctic Apple slices will eventually go brown if you forget them in the back of the fridge or leave them lying under the couch. That’s a different process, of course, so the disabled enzyme has no effect.
It’s been a long journey to take Arctic Apples from seed to store shelves. Trees were planted around twelve years ago, and Carter says “we’ve waited almost five years for with regulatory approval,” noting that the USDA’s blessing is a huge win for his company. He added, “we’re stoked [that] we can get down to business planting trees and selling Arctic Apples.”
Source: Science – Geek.com
http://nutsonews.com/lifestyle/food/usda-approves-sale-of-genetically-engineered-apples-that-dont-go-brown-2/
