USDA asked to deregulate trait so it can be expanded to other cultivars

By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI

Capital Press

A Canadian biotechnology company has asked the USDA for permission to commercialize genetically engineered apples that don't turn brown when sliced.

Okanagan Specialty Fruits, based in Summerland, British Columbia, believes the non-browning trait will make the crop a more popular ingredient in ready-to-eat salads and similar meals.

"Apples have been kind of left behind in the fresh cut-produce business," said Neal Carter, the company's president.

Additives that prevent browning in apples are available, but Carter said they have limited appeal due to cost and the potential for off-flavors.

The trait may turn out to be useful in other processed apple products as well, he said. "The juice doesn't go brown. The apple sauces don't go brown."

The non-browning technology was initially pioneered in potatoes by Australia's national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.

Okanagan Specialty Fruits licensed the technology and adapted it to apples, launching initial field tests in 2002.

The company has now turned over its data to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, asking the agency to deregulate the trait so it can be freely included in new and established apple cultivars.

"Taking on this APHIS petition is a huge step for us," Carter said.

In contrast to many transgenic crops, the company's "Arctic" apple trait doesn't rely on genetic material from another organism.

Instead, the genetic sequences responsible for producing the enzyme that induces browning have simply been turned off.

For that reason, Carter said he's optimistic about the trait's prospects for deregulation.

"We've taken an apple and silenced a protein in it," he said. "It's hard to figure how it poses an environmental risk."

It may be possible for farmers to graft conventional apple varieties onto rootstocks with the "Arctic" trait, thereby imparting the non-browning trait to fruit that's not genetically-engineered, he said.

Carter said the trait would probably be incorporated by vertically-integrated companies on limited acreage, which he hopes would forestall backlash against the crop.

"It's not going to become everybody's backyard apple tree," he said.

The Center for Food Safety, an activist group that opposes genetically-engineered crops, is more skeptical of the outlook for non-browning apples.

The enzymes that cause browning may also play a critical role in the apple's ability to defend itself from threats, said Bill Freese, the group's science policy analyst.

Studies have indicated the enzyme also acts as a catalyst for the release of other immune compounds in apples, he said. "If it has a role in resistance to pathogens and insects, you may end up with an apple that's more susceptible."

Freese said he's concerned that could prompt farmers to spray more pesticides on their apple trees.

Scientists may still find other beneficial aspects to the browning enzyme, so silencing the relevant genes could have unintended consequences, he said. "What other roles might it have?"