By Tom Karst

A nonbrowning apple variety and a disease-resistant banana may be the next
commodities to test consumer acceptance of biotechnology in fresh produce.
The U.S. has more than 144 million acres of biotech crops under cultivation,
but virtually none of that acreage is represented by crops grown for the
fresh produce market. In contrast, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
reported this year that 80% of the nation?s field corn crop and 92% of
soybeans were biotech varieties.

The slow development in biotechnology for fresh produce has been rooted in
caution about consumer attitudes. The genetically engineered Flavr Savr
tomato was unveiled in 1992 but ran aground amid activist resistance,
prolonged regulatory reviews and lukewarm market acceptance.

?There are very few biotech derived fruits and vegetables on the market and
there is not too many being actively developed that are close to being on
the market,? said Michael Wach, managing director for science and regulatory
affairs for the Food and Agriculture Department of the Biotechnology
Industry Organization, Washington, D.C.

?I don?t see anybody in the Washington (state) apple industry trying to
market a genetically modified apple at this point in time for fear of
getting clobbered by the activists,? said economist Desmond O?Rourke,
president of Belrose Inc., Pullman, Wash.

However, commercial acceptance of bioengineered apples may not be that far
off, said Herb Aldwinckle, Cornell University professor at the Geneva,
N.Y.-based New York State Agricultural Experiment Station.

?I think there might be some genetically engineered varieties out within
five years, and some of those might be the nonbrowning apple varieties,? he
said.

Meanwhile, Cornell?s biotechnology work on disease-resistance for apples ?
primarily for fire blight and apple scab ? is a little further off, he said.

?I can see us having some varieties commercialized between five and 10
years,? he said.

About 50% of the Hawaiian papaya crop is genetically modified (to combat the
potentially industry-killing ringspot virus), and Aldwinckle estimated about
20% to 25% of the summer squash supply is grown from seeds developed by
biotechnology.

Aldwinckle said Cornell has a small trial of the biotech non-browning
apples, developed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc., a privately-held
agriculture biotechnology company based in Summerland, British Columbia.

Neal Carter, president of Okanagan Specialty Fruits, said the firm has a
couple of field trials ongoing for five varieties of nonbrowning apples.

He said it is unknown how long the approval process will take, but it could
be perhaps two years. That means a limited amount of trees could be going in
the ground by the spring of 2011, perhaps under a permit process. Fruit from
those trees wouldn?t be expected from those trees for another couple of
years.

The company?s patented polypheunol oxidase technology is able to halt
browning.

All bioengineered plant varieties marketed in the U.S. must be approved by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the
Environmental Protection Agency.

Tony Freytag, marketing director for Cashmere, Wash.-based Crunch Pak, said
a nonbrowning apple could be considered for fresh-cut purposes if the
variety turns out to be commercially viable. However, he said Crunch Pak has
not been able to test the variety and said any consideration of the variety
is premature.

In the event the variety is commercially available, said processors would
have to be careful not to overlook microbiological issues just because the
flesh doesn?t turn brown.

?We spend a great deal of our time on is controlling the microbiological
loads on an apple,? he said. On the other hand, said the nonbrowning variety
could be a positive if it eliminates the cost of treating fruit with
antioxidants like Nature Seal.

Another mitigating factor in its acceptance could be cost of the product, he
said. If fruit from the variety is priced too high, it could be of little
value to the fresh-cut industry.

Carter said he believes the Okanagan technology will be accepted by
consumers, because the genetic engineering only involves ?silencing? an
apple gene, not introducing something foreign to the apple. He noted a virus
resistant biotech plum variety was cleared without fanfare by the USDA last
year.

Wach said bananas may be on the short list of commodities that will benefit
from biotechnology.

?Bananas, like papayas, are susceptible to a large number of devastating
diseases for which there is no known treatment and no known resistance
within the species,? he said.

Wach predicted biotech bananas being developed now in tropical countries
will be shipped to the U.S. within 10 years.
www.checkbiotech.org