The new study is set for publication in Food Quality and Preference and highlights research done on engineering apples to help people who are mildly allergic to them and their reaction to the concept of those apples being created through GM.

Over a ten months ending in June 2007, the modified apples were sold through a supermarket, some organic stores and a few green grocers in Holland. There was a leaflet in the pack explaining  the allergy and how the apples were developed to assist it. There was an address for an online survey shown on the leaflet and 437 people completed it.

Most of these people reported their apple allergy in the survey and these generally thought that the modification to make the apples hypoallergenic was beneficial

The researchers concluded that; “Overall, traditional breeding was the preferred production strategy, although acceptance of genetic modification as a process did increase with increasing perceived personal benefit associated with products, in particular those which were ‘medically-related’, or perceived to reduce allergic reactions.”

Source

Food Quality and Preference (2010)

Doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2010.08.003

Consumer attitudes towards hypoallergenic apples that alleviate mild apple allergy,

Schenk, M.F., van der Maas, M.P., Smulders, M.J.M., Gilissen, L.J.W., Fischer, A.R.H.,

van der Lans, I.A., Jacobsen, E., Frewer, L.J.,