Two weeks after the first GMO apple was approved by FDA in February 2015, the company who created it, Okanagan Specialty Fruits, cashed in $41 million dollars, all for a controversial products, clearly unwanted by the public.
This company had battled petitions, protesters, and even the press for several months before finally getting approval for their infamous GMO product – apple that doesn’t turn brown. The Food and Drug Administration approved it without demanding feeding trials or safety testing.
Today, after years of speculations, 3 different genetically engineered apples are expected to hit store shelves. What’s worse, they will come with no labeling indicating that they are GMO version from normal apples. In other words, millions of people won’t even know that that they purchase and consume these apples.
3 New Unlabeled and Untested GMO Apples
The Facebook page GMO Free USA reports that USDA has approved a new GMO Arctic Fuji apple.
So far, FDA has approved 3 new GMO, non-browning apples: Arctic Granny, Arctic Golden, and now Arctic Fuji apple. Other type of GMO, non-browning apple, called Gala, is expected to be the next in line. Arctic Granny and Arctic Golden were planned to hit the store shelves this fall, and now it seems Arctic Fuji will join them soon.
As it turns out, consumers will be guinea pigs for the new GMO apple, as it lacks safety tasting. It doesn’t turn brown even if it’s bad, suggesting that people could wind up eating contaminated, rotting apples without being aware of it.
As soon as they were approved, the Organic Consumers Association started an active campaign to prevent companies use these unlabeled genetically engineered non-browning apples . So far, it has made headway with Wendy’s McDonalds’s, and Gerber asking not to use them.
However, the main target for these “botox” apples will be food service companies and restaurants who will present expired apples as fresh ones – something that will surely bring them profit. How these non-browning apples will affect our health is unknown. The only thing known is that the gene which normally turns apples brown is ‘silenced’. As Ronnie Cummins, the OCA president, states, this is nothing but another experiment on people for no good reason.
How to Avoid GMO, Non-Browning Apples
Around 1,000, 40-pound boxes of Arctic Golden apple are expected to be sliced and sold in American West grocery stores this fall. The apples are grown mostly on the East Coast, in the Pacific Northwest, and in Canada. As expected, food service companies, retailers, and quick-service companies, have already expressed interest in using these non-browning apples.
To make sure you are not choosing some of the new GMO apples, do the following things:
- Buy either from a trusted local farmer, or choose Non-GMO Project Verified, or certified organic apples
- Stay away from apples labeled ‘Arctic’ that might be marked with a sticker or come in special packaging
- Avoid purchasing any pre-sliced or unlabeled apples, such as those found in kids’ meals or cafeterias
U.S. Apple Growers Don’t Want GMO Apples
Many of the giant apple industries have already come out against the new unlabeled GMO apples. They fear the new apples will lead to crop contamination as well as confusion and rejection from their consumers.
These apple growing companies are Northwest Horticultural Council (responsible for over 60 percent of the crop in America), the BC Fruit Growers’ Association, and the U.S. Apple Association. While the new GMO apples may be great for processed food industries, their effects on our health are unknown, and over time avoiding them might become extremely difficult.
The Center for Food Safety stated that only the big food processing companies and biotech industry will actually benefit from these new GMO products. They wrote this on a petition page created to attract more food companies in the boycott against the new GMO non-browning apples.
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