Daily BrewB.C. Arctic apple targeted by U.S. GMO opponents
As a U.S. Senate committee hears testimony this week on labelling of genetically modified food products, a British Columbia-born biotech apple is once again in the eye of the GMO storm.
The Arctic apple has become target No. 1 of GMO opponents since it was approved earlier this year in the United States and Canada.
Since then, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a measure to block mandatory GMO labelling by states in favour of a voluntary national standard. Genetically modified foods are not labelled in Canada.
With the U.S. Senate set to weigh in, activists say they are making headway in a campaign calling for an industry boycott of Arctic apples. The variety, which has been modified not to brown when cut, is the first genetically altered apple approved for commercial sale.
Friends of the Earth (FOE) says Wendy’s and McDonald’s in the U.S. have confirmed to the environmental group that they do not plan to add Arctic apples to their menus.
Baby food maker Gerber says the same.
A spokesman for Nestle Canada, which owns Gerber, tells Yahoo Canada News that the baby food maker requires specialized apple varieties for its products and Arctic apples are not one of them they use.
“Gerber has no current plans to use Arctic apples,” Cedric Focking Schneider, manager of corporate affairs for Nestle Canada, says in an email.
Frank Vamos, spokesman for Wendy’s in the U.S., says Arctic apples are not on the current menu and the chain has no plans to purchase any other variety “at this time.”
The company’s response to Friends of the Earth last April was more explicit.
“At this time, the varieties of apples we use in the U.S. are all non-GMO and we have no plans to change our sourcing to the new varietal about which you raise concerns,” wrote Mary Schell, senior vice-president of external and government relations.
But the apples developed by B.C.-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc., was only approved for sale in the U.S. and Canada this year, points out the company, which has several other fruits in development.
While the trees are now available for planting, it will be several years before the fruit will be available on the market.
“There is no plausible reason why they would state otherwise,” Okanagan Specialty Fruits president Neal Carter’s says in an email to Yahoo Canada News.
Arctic apples will be the first biotech apples to be available but they won’t be widely available to consumers for some time yet, Carter says.
“Wendy’s statement has nothing to do with a rejection of biotechnology or Arctic apples, and this is a clear attempt by FOE to intentionally mislead consumers,” Carter says.
“This follows previous attempts in which FOE claimed McDonald’s and Gerber had ‘rejected’ Arctic apples in response to similar letters, even though those statements came years before Arctic apples were even approved, never mind sufficient supply being available.”
Carter says small test-market quantities of the modified variety will be available next fall but it will be at least a few more years until a large enough supply is available for a major restaurant chain, he says.
Dana Perls, a campaigner for Friends of the Earth, says Wendy’s, McDonald’s and other food retailers are responding to consumer demand for non-GMO products.
“If there’s not a demand for purchase that really impacts whether there are large amounts of GMO apples trees that are planted,” she says.
“More and more consumers are saying no to these GMO apples and GMO foods generally.”
Her group and others are pressing Canadian and U.S. lawmakers to make labelling mandatory.
In the meantime, Perls says the campaign will continue against Arctic apples and other GMO food products, including a genetically modified salmon developed in Atlantic Canada that has not yet been approved.
