The OECD releases a Consensus Document on the biology of APPLE (Malus domestica). 

A major fruit crop of temperate regions, APPLE is consumed worldwide as fresh fruit, juice and other food products. This consensus document provides science-based key insights for the regulatory assessment of the environmental safety of genetically-engineered products: taxonomy, reproductive biology, genetics, hybridisation and introgression, and ecology. This document is complementary to the earlier document addressing compositional considerations for new apple cultivars for food use and feed use. 

Both programmes aim to contribute to the assessment of the safety of products derived from modern biotechnology, a challenging issue as genetically engineered crops are increasingly cultivated worldwide and as human foods and animal feeds derived from such crops are marketed.

The OECD work deals also with plants, trees, animals or microorganisms where modern biotechnology is applied.

Participating countries and observers work together to harmonise approaches and share information used in risk/safety assessment.

The "consensus documents” constitute the main output of the work, as practical and science-based tools relevant to risk/safety assessors and regulators:

• Consensus documents for the work on the safety of novel foods and feeds

• Consensus documents for the work on harmonisation of regulatory oversight in biotechnology

• Download the brochure - PDF version