A Canadian company’s latest non-browning apple variety, Arctic Gala, has received the approval of health officials to hit Canadian shelves. 

The developer and grower of Arctic apples, Okanagan Specialty Fruits, received the green light from Health Canada last week to release the new variety, Arctic Gala, for food use in the country, joining three other previously approved GM varieties. 

The pre-sliced Arctic apple varieties are packaged and sold with the promise of staying fresh for up to 28 days due to a biotechnology technique called RNA interference that "silences" the gene that controls the apples’ enzymatic browning, the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzyme. 

A photo from Okanagan Specialty Fruits shows fruit from the first Arctic Fuji harvest in British Columbia.

The organization also received authorization from the Plant Biotechnology Office of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to release the Arctic Gala apple in the country, deeming it safe for humans, livestock and the environment as conventional apples. 

Health Canada notified the organization that it has no objection to the food use of the Arctic Gala apple variety, noting that it was no different than the three previous varieties approved by the agency: Arctic Granny, Arctic Golden, and Arctic Fuji.

Neal Carter, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of OSF applauded the Canadian agency’s efficiency saying the release of the apple is an “important step in our efforts to add a fourth apple variety to the Arctic family of apples and continues our sustainability efforts to reduce unnecessary apple waste.”

Arctic Apples are the first genetically engineered apple to be approved by both the United States and Canada. The Arctic Gala was approved by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2021 and is currently under review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Related articles:

U.S.: FDA approves GM Arctic Fuji apple

North America: OSF to start first Arctic Apple commercial sales next week