Let’s be honest, sometimes (most of the time?) you’re not buying your seafood exclusively from the local fish market, or ordering premium products online. It’s life. We won’t judge. But we will help you navigate your way through those trips to the store, when you still want the great benefits that seafood can provide. Be warned however, many of the “don’ts” we’re about to suggest could rule out most, if not all of the seafood options at many national grocers. You’ll find better luck at the higher grade chains like Whole Foods, but consider
yourself warned.

Tuna

What’s better than a tuna salad sandwich for lunch? A staple of the American diet, and a regular on my lunch menu throughout the week. You made sure that Starkist was dolphin safe (at least mostly), so you’re good to go, right? Right? Not quite.

You can be sure “dolphin safe” is more marketing than ecological indicator these days. Surely it’s important, but it’s common practice in the industry nowadays. Unless you value dolphins more than the rest of the ocean, or your family’s health, there’s more important things to look for on the label than “dolphin safe”. Read on.

Let’s start with country of origin. The FDA inspects less than 1% of imported seafood, and that includes canned tuna. If that’s not enough in itself, upon a rare inspection of Korean owned Starkist’s facility in 2011, they refused to provide records to the FDA. Also taking into account that it’s been reported up to 59% of tuna Americans eat is mislabeled, this lack of inspection isn’t exactly adding up to Knowing Your Seafood. So Step 1: check the country of origin. If it’s not USA, you’ve got some thinking to do. Spoiler Alert: it’s probably not USA.

Assuming what makes it into the can is predominantly tuna, what tuna are we talking about here? As a rule of thumb, albacore, bluefin and yellowfin are what you want to be eating. Some of these labels are very ambiguous, using terms like “fancy tuna”, “white tuna”, “light meat tuna” etc. If it doesn’t say albacore on the can (or pouch), it’s most likely skipjack. But hold on. Before we continue, “most likely” is not part of the Know Your Seafood vocabulary. But because of lack of regulation, inspection, and transparency from the producers, that’s what we’re left with. Anyway, this probable skipjack is generally returned to the water by recreational anglers in pursuit of the the other three listed above, as skipjack is a mushier texture and fishier taste. I’ve often wondered what, if any measures are taken during the canning process to counter act that and make it more palatable. I’m not sure I want to know the answer to that question…

If it weren’t for the ambiguous labeling, lack of transparency, and essentially no FDA regulation from foreign providers of canned skipjack, it’d be a great option, assuming it still tasted edible were those things put in place. Skipjack are caught using purse seining which is not great, not terrible. They are smaller fish, so they don’t accumulate very much mercury. They are fast growers, so the fishery replenishes easily, plus they are in lesser demand compared to other tunas. Unfortunately, the can of “light meat tuna” from Korea (or other foreign country) doesn’t pass the Know Your Seafood test.

As for albacore, they are often caught with a much more destructive method of fishing called long lining, where a miles long line is deployed between buoys with smaller lines extending from that with baited hooks, and left to “soak” for a period of time before collection. Long lines result in massive bycatch. Some measures have been taken to reduce that, and have had an enormous impact on bycatch of sea birds, and to a lesser extent sea turtles. Large numbers of sharks, rays, and other undesirable fish are still killed as bycatch. About 25% of longline catch is wasted bycatch.

So now that you have the fisheries lesson, while albacore are a much more palatable option, and generally labeled better, you will still see the “white tuna” labeling associated with albacore, which draws suspicion. Albacore are larger, and may contain more mercury than skipjack. They taste better, but I have a major problem with anything supporting one of the most destructive and irresponsible fishing methods on the planet, and you should too. Knowing the destructive fishing method associated with canned albacore from the large foreign providers, in combination with the labeling, regulation, inspection and possible mercury concerns, means a thumbs down from Know Your Seafood.

So where does that leave us? Canned yellowfin has recently been showing up on grocery store shelves, and labeled as such. The other issues still persist, as with the other imported tunas, so it may be the best option, but not necessarily a good one. If you’re not at one of the higher level grocers like a Whole Foods, then your options probably end there. However, there are some premium products on shelves that while a little more expensive, are worth every penny. As a common theme in the seafood world, you get what you pay for.

Our favorite is a brand called American Tuna, available at most Whole Foods and online. As some of the more astute readers may have surmised, they are an American company, and as such are subject to FDA inspection and regulations. That’s a huge plus in itself, compared to other seafood products on the shelf, not to mention any preference you may have for supporting US job creation, etc. The labeling is clear as day, stating not only “albacore” but “pole caught wild albacore”. Now that’s the kind of labeling we like to see at KnowYourSeafood.com. Pole and line fishing is the most environmentally friendly method of fishing there is, resulting in 0.1% bycatch compared to the 25% in the alternative longline fishing for albacore we looked at earlier. In addition to that, American Tuna cans the tuna in…. tuna. That’s it. Unless you select one of their flavored varieties, that can of tuna is 100% albacore tuna, packed in its own oils. And that leaves only one other inherent problem with albacore tuna. Being a larger fish, as we determined earlier, they can be subject to higher levels of mercury. American Tuna harvests a smaller grade of albacore (12-20lbs), thereby giving you the benefit of naturally lower mercury levels. So you know what you’re getting, you know where it’s from, you know how it was caught, you know its impact on the environment and you can feel safe about its health implications on you and your family. Without question, this is the canned tuna to buy if you know your seafood.

And one more thing, it tastes amazingly better than what you’re used to from canned tuna!

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