USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service plans to approve a new “non-browning” variety of Fuji apple after concluding it does not pose a risk to human health or the environment.
Developed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits in Washington state, the NF872 cultivar has been bioengineered to be resistant to enzymatic browning. It would be the third in the company’s Arctic Apple line to gain APHIS approval; the first two are . . . known as Arctic Granny and Arctic Golden.
In its Finding of No Significant Impact. . ., APHIS relied on the environmental analysis it already performed on those two varieties. It said approval of the new variety will not change consumer demand for other apples including conventional or organic varieties. Nor will it “result in any changes to current planting, fertilizer application/use, cultivation, or pesticide application use,” APHIS said.
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“The non-browning apple will help extend the usefulness of apples in children’s lunches, food service and in juice processing,” [Duarte Nursery near Modesto, California] said. “The apples . . . will add to the sustainability of apples in our food system by reducing waste.”
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