A slice of Summerland
Twenty years ago Summerland orchardists Neal and Louisa Carter, founders of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, wondered if apple slices could become a new convenience food.
They had seen carrot consumption double with the introduction of fresh-cut, tumbled and bagged carrots—no need to cut, scrub or peel.
But unlike carrots sliced apples quickly turn brown.
Thanks to modern techniques that incorporate the natural process cells use to turn off unwanted genes, the enzymes that cause browning can now be silenced.
Arctic™ Golden slices are soon to hit grocery store shelves.
For eight weeks early this year they will be test-marketed in 10 stores in several Midwestern U.S. states.
The final report is expected in April.
“The tests are in preparation for the official commercial launch, which will happen this coming fall,” Carter said.
Information on consumer responses to price point, packaging and sales, including repeat sales will be collected.
Each store will have an in-house representative who knows the local clientele and will provide information about Arctic™ Golden and answer questions.
The representatives will also encourage customers to complete a questionnaire.
“We’ve been collecting consumer response information for several years. The test-marketing is an extension of that,” Carter said.
The grocery chain selected to do the testing was chosen because of its enthusiasm for the product, the socio-economic demographic of its clientele and being a regional retailer.
“Being regional rather than national means it can work with the volume of fruit we currently have available,” Carter said.
The first commercial harvest of Arctic™ Golden occurred in 2016.
This spring 200 additional acres will come into production which is expected to be large enough to support the commercial launch in the fall.
“All current plantings of Arctic™ plantings are in the United States. Eventually we’d like to have orchards in Canada as well,” Carter said.
He thinks those Canadian plantings are likely to be in Ontario because of the difficulty in B.C. of obtaining the desired large parcels.
Carter’s genetically engineered Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apples were approved in early 2015 by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Health Canada and the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. Arctic™ Fuji received American approval last year.
Canadian agencies approved “the trait” in all apples so there is no need to apply for each variety, whereas the U.S. does it one variety at a time Carter explained.
The non-browning trait used by OSF scientists was licensed from the Common Scientific and Industrial Research Organization of Australia.
“Foreign genes are not added to Arctic™ apples nor will they be added to any future genetically modified tree fruits developed by OSF,” Carter said.
Carter said studies show that the gene silencing techniques result in firmer, better tasting apples because there is no ‘off taste’ from preservatives used to prevent browning.
Elimination of the preservatives also reduces costs for food companies and benefits apple growers by increasing demand.
In April 2015, OSF was purchased by the Maryland-based synthetic biology company Intrexon for $41 million.
“This sale has meant access to deep pockets to drive the commercialization process. We’ve been able to bring a new apple to market faster than has ever been done before,” Carter said.
The Intrexon-Okanagan merged company has plans to increase production of Arctic™ apples to be able to supply large national and international food service companies.
Selected growers will produce fruit on a contract basis.
Susan McIver is a Penticton writer with a keen interest in agriculture. She can be reached by faxing the Herald at (250) 492-2403.