It’s called the Arctic Apple, and it is a brand new species of the fruit bred specifically so it will never turn brown, even after being sliced. Why do we need an apple like this? According to its creators, it is because we (the consumer) won’t buy produce that is completely pristine. If it’s got a brown spot or a bruise on it, the fruit will sit on the shelf and rot.
Neal Carter, president of Okanagan Specialty Fruits said:
“There’s an awful lot of apples that go to waste. We were looking for ways to rebrand apples to make them more convenient.”
You can expect to see the apples popping up in around 400 shops around the country this November and they will be in the form of Golden Delicious apples. Next Spring, they will release a second variety (Granny Smith). The apples will all be sold, pre-sliced and bagged (because convenience = a ton more waste), but they presumably won’t be treated with the same preservative chemicals as current pre-sliced apple options.
Carter does acknowledge that there is some risk in releasing a food product that is being touted as genetically altered.
“There are certainly people against what we do, but there are less people against it than two years ago or five years ago. Once people experience the apple, generally they say, ‘Hey this is just an apple.’”