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U.S. regulators on Friday approved two genetically engineered apple varieties designed to resist browning, rejecting efforts by the organic industry and other GMO critics to block the new fruit. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) approved the new apples, developed by the Canadian biotech company Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc., as "unlikely to pose a plant pest risk to agriculture." Okanagan plans to market the apples as Arctic® Granny and Arctic® Golden, and says the apples are identical to their conventional counterparts except that they will not turn brown. Okanagan President Neal Carter, called the USDA approval a "a monumental occasion." "It is the biggest milestone yet for us, and we can't wait until they're available for consumers," he said in a statement. Carter said Arctic apples will first be available in late 2016 in small quantities, and it will take many years before the apples are widely distributed.
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