Arctic Gala apple receives approval from Health Canada

The apple’s PPO is turned off

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A B.C. company known for its development of apples that help reduce food waste, has received approval from Health Canada for a new apple variety.

Okanagan Special Fruits (OSF), the company behind the Arctic brand of apples, which include Granny Smith, Fuji and Golden varieties, received the green light for its new Arctic Gala apple.

“Health Canada (HC) notified OSF that it has no objection to the food use of the Arctic apple event in the Gala apple variety, noting that the event was no different than the three varieties previously approved by the agency and now commercially grown by the company,” the company said in an April 9 press release.

OSF’s apple offerings stay fresher longer because of its scientific process.

The process includes “turning off” the fruit’s polyphenol oxidase (PPO), the enzyme responsible for enzymatic browning.

“This browning is due to a chemical reaction with oxygen in the air, and it may be responsible for up to half of all food waste,” the American Chemical Society says.

By silencing the apple’s PPO, Arctic’s fresh sliced products have a shelf life of up to 28 days, OSF says.

OSF accomplishes this through a process called RNA-interference (RNAi), also known as gene silencing.

Medical researchers have used RNAi to develop therapeutics against acute and persistent viral infections, a study published in the National Library of Medicine says.

Top: OSF photo