Pink Ladies have won a reputation as a popular apple variety since they were first offered to the public in the 1970s.
Cripps Pink is the cultivar name for the apple marketed as Pink Lady, which was developed in Western Australia by crossing a Lady William apple, with a Golden Delicious.
But the supermarkets inquiry run by the ACCC, has been told the apples are more red, these days, than pink.
Goulburn Valley fruit grower Peter Hall shed some light on the development during his evidence to the commission on how supermarkets treat suppliers.
He was explaining to the commission that there is subjectivity in what supermarkets select from suppliers.
A good case in point, he said, is Pink Lady apples.
“If you look on a shelf now and look at Pink Lady apples, they’re actually red,” Mr Hall said.
“Because what’s happened over the years — initially when Pink Ladies were brought into bearing, they were distinctly different.
“They were a pink apple, quite attractive. They had a real — a distinctly different flavour.
“But there was a push from — I don't know whether it’s the consumers or the chain stores or someone said, no, we need it redder and redder and redder.
“So we’ve been breeding redder versions of Pink Lady. And they’re really not Pink Ladies any more.
“They’re red versions of a Pink Lady.
“And to some extent, I think there’s some evidence to say the taste has changed because of that.
“So, you know, there are peculiar things like that, but it often comes down to some perception.
“Here’s what the market wants. Vegetables are the same. Do they? I’m not sure.
“But in terms of a packing house, we are — we are trying to meet the spec as well as we can so that we can deliver as much of the bulk product into that chain store specification.
“And the subjectivity is just a part of that because of the natural process of growing fruit,” Mr Hall said.
The Pink Lady was developed by Western Australian apple breeder John Cripps AO, who died in 2022.
He was also behind the development of the Cripps Red variety, known as Sundowner, which is a parent of the more recently released deep burgundy variety ANABP 01, marketed as Bravo apples.