KELOWNA – The B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association doesn’t want to see the genetically modified Arctic apple on grocery store shelves in Canada.

The group passed a resolution at its annual general meeting in Kelowna to ask the Canadian government to de-register the product.

The Arctic apple doesn’t turn brown, because the gene responsible for producing the enzyme that causes browning has been switched off.

It was deregulated in the U.S. in February 2015 and approved by Health Canada shortly afterwards, giving the green light for the sale of the apple in both countries.

The issue, says B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association President Fred Steele, is what could be a negative consumer response to a genetically modified apple.

“It’s not the end of the world, but I want to make sure organic growers are protected; our conventional growers, and I don’t want adverse reaction to apples, period,” says Steele.

Kelowna apple grower Amarjit Lalli doesn’t think the association will succeed in getting the variety de-registered.  But his late resolution to push for the Arctic apple to be labeled a genetically modified product also passed at the meeting.

“It’s ultimately the consumer that decides what they consume,” says Lalli.  “As long as they know and they’ve got that choice.”

No one at the Summerland company that developed the Arctic Apple, Okanagan Specialty Fruits, could be reached for comment by the publishing deadline.