New Apple Stays Fresh for Months

Researchers in Australia have developed an apple that stays fresh for 14 days in a fruit bowl and for "months on end" in a refrigerator. Known as RS103-130, the Queensland government experts spent 20 years developing what they have dubbed "the world's best apple."

The apple’s longevity is obtained without genetic modification – its disease-resistant properties come from a gene found in the Asiatic apple malus floribunda.

Tim Mulherin, Primary Industries Minister, said the state government was looking for a commercial supply partner to put the new apple on the market as early as next year. The apple is sweet and disease resistant, Mulherin said, "Initial taste tests have been outstanding. Out of the five apple types tasted, the new variety scored the highest."

Scientist Dr Simon Middleton has been working with apples at the Applethorpe Research Station since 1980 and said he was impressed by RS103-130. "This variety is unique in that it is naturally resistant to apple scab, also called black spot, a disease that costs the apple industry £6m (approx. $10m) a year in Australia alone," he said.