GMO (genetically modified) Apples
Or
Arctic Apples
It’s one of the first foods engineered through genetic engineering and developed by a Canadian biotech company Okanagan Speciality Fruits (OSF). They are commonly known as GMO apples. The Arctic Apple, is genetically modified in such a way that, is strategically missing an enzyme so it doesn’t gets brown when you take a bite of it and leave it sitting out on the counter OR when you cut it in pieces and leave the pieces in plate for sometime. Their ability to resist browning after being cut protects its flavour and nutritive values. Browning also results in food waste due to appearance of bruising surfaces (due to browning) on perfectly edible apples. Food waste, especially for fruits and vegetables, is a major problem worldwide; consumer behavior significantly contributes to the wastage of apples by this way. Therefore, arctic apples are a way to lessen a major source of food waste.
In February, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) officially announced its decision to deregulate Arctic Golden Delicious and Arctic Granny Smith, the go-ahead for Arctic Apples to be grown and sold in the U.S.
Why browning occurs?
The browning reaction in case of fruits and vegetables is very common. Talking about apples, they contain chemicals called 'polyphenols' that can react with oxygen in the air and cause browning. The reaction of browning doesn't occur without the help of PPO enzymes (polyphenol oxidase) which are responsible to bring polyphenols and oxygen together in a right way.
To understand it in a better way, let's go inside the apple,
PPO enzymes and polyphenols are normally separated by different compartments in apple cells. When the apple is not cut or bitten, inside of fresh apple remains white or yellow-green in colour. But when the apple is cut or bitten or crushed, these structures are broken which allows the PPOs to interact with polyphenols and oxygen to give rise to browning reaction. Different varieties of apples vary different amounts of PPOs or polyphenols.
We can perform some household tricks to delay the browning mechanism, but we actually cannot prevent it completely or indefinitely. Knowing the fact that PPOs were responsible for browning, researchers thought to block th se enzymes with genetic tools to create non-browning apples.
This was exactly what OSF accomplished in developing Arctic Apples through GE.
Are Arctic apples safe?
After over a decade of research, regulatory agencies in the United States and Canada like the FDA and USDA recently approved Arctic apples for human consumption. Evidence proves that Arctic apple trees and fruit are no different from their traditional counterparts in terms of agricultural and nutritional characteristics. On the molecular level, the transgene genetic material present in Arctic apples is quickly degraded by your digestive system to the point where it’s indistinguishable from that found in traditional apples.
- Rhythm Bhardwaj
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