Sliced apples’ appeal at issue Fruit study to go to vote

CONCORD, N.H. – What kind of human-made packaging could improve on an apple picked fresh from the tree?

Enter a federally funded study to find out.

Gov. John Lynch and the Executive Council will vote Wednesday on a $24,300 contract to study the feasibility of processing and marketing fresh-cut apple slices in New England. The results of the study will be shared by the region’s six states and their roughly 150 apple growers.

Additional federal money is available to fund a pilot project testing the popularity of packaged apple slices in the region. In all, $42,500 in federal money has been earmarked for the effort.

Steve Lacasse, chairman of the New England Apple Growers Association, is enthusiastic about the study and about the future for sliced apples.

“It’s a wide-open field. It’s going to take off like wildfire,” the Keene apple salesman said. “Studies have shown children will eat more apples if you cut them in slices.”

It’s not a new idea, those in the industry say. McDonald’s has been selling apple slices with a caramel dip for children.

Other fast food businesses also are adding fresh fruits to their menus as are hospitals, schools and other institutions concerned about serving food that is more healthful.

Thus far, apple growers in Washington state have provided many of the apples to the emerging market, Lacasse said.

New England growers, who together produce 4.5 million to 5 million bushels of apples each year, also want to take advantage of the interest in more healthful foods.

“We’re not inventing the product; we’re responding to the market,” said Steve Justis, a senior agricultural development specialist in Vermont.

Lacasse and others see the apple slices as a way to revive an industry that’s lost ground in recent years.

Justis estimates Vermont lost about 20 percent of its apple growing capacity in the last four or five years. Other states also are struggling. Pressure on New England apple growers includes competition from western growers, Chinese apples that are filling the juice market and the increasing availability of many fruits year-round.

“Our apple industry in New England is under siege, so we’re trying to find those other niche markets,” said Mary Ellen Johnston, of the Maine Department of Agriculture.

She remains skeptical about sliced apples, however. “I’m not convinced it’s going to be the savior of the apple industry,” she said.