Nasty Canned Tuna (health, vinegar, taste, salt)

[GeoffD]

I tend to buy Italian and Portuguese tuna in olive oil. It's high quality fish, not canned mush like the mass market Chicken of the Sea, Bumble Bee, and StarKist brands. You get what you pay for.



I have access to fresh local yellowfin tuna in the summer when they migrate to southern New England. The "grill grade" is cheaper than canned tuna. I eat that far more frequently than canned tuna that I used as 'emergency food'. People also land bluefin tuna but that goes on a Boston-Tokyo JAL flight and pays your boat expenses for the season.

[Gree]

We get the house brand, Member's Mark, from Sam's Club. Always solid chunks of albacore in water.

[eureka1]

99% of the tuna I buy ends up getting mashed and used in sandwiches I don't care about "filets". I buy whatever they have at Winco, usually Starkist. Works for me! I do like Wild Planet sardines. They're awesome.

[jay5835]

Another thing I like about Genova tuna is that the cans come with pop-tops. I keep it in the fridge and since it's packed in EVOO, I don't even drain it, so no catfood smell on my fingers after I make tuna salad.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V54D0P2...tail_page?th=1

[ddm2k]

Originally Posted by otterhere

Is it my imagination, or is the quality getting worse and worse with the long-trusted supermarket name brands? Now that albacore has become a thing, the light is akin to cat food, and even the "solid/chunk white albacore" is mealy and slimy unless you buy the most expensive brands. Anyone else notice this, and what brands would you recommend (before I have to feed even more of it to my cats)?

Bumblebee makes tuna with added ingredients such as sun dried tomato, ginger + soy, or jalapeno peppers. I have found the texture and moisture in these cans are exactly what I'd hoped for in a can.

$2.xx in most grocery stores. The tin is gold not silver colored.

[pekemom]

Starkist yellowfin tuna in olive oil..I like it better than others I used to buy.

[otterhere]

Originally Posted by pekemom

Starkist yellowfin tuna in olive oil..I like it better than others I used to buy.

But is it more expensive?

And when they add soy, I assume that's a bad thing. Does that contribute to the new mushiness and/or strange odor?

[cleasach]

The only fish that I will eat is packaged tuna. I just don't like fish. I wish I did but hard as I try, I just don't care for it. I thought that was okay because I would get my omega 3s from having tuna a few times a month. I used to love Bumble Bee Solid White in Water but now every brand is just not the same. It's gross. So I started buying chunk lite in those foil packages and having one for lunch now and again thinking it was good.

Now I see that someone in this thread said that many packaged tunas have soy in there. I looked at both the Bumble Bee and the Starkist foil packs I have and what do you know? BOTH say Tuna and Soy in the ingredients. Why the heck is soy in tuna?

[otterhere]

Originally Posted by cleasach

The only fish that I will eat is packaged tuna. I just don't like fish. I wish I did but hard as I try, I just don't care for it. I thought that was okay because I would get my omega 3s from having tuna a few times a month. I used to love Bumble Bee Solid White in Water but now every brand is just not the same. It's gross. So I started buying chunk lite in those foil packages and having one for lunch now and again thinking it was good.

Now I see that someone in this thread said that many packaged tunas have soy in there. I looked at both the Bumble Bee and the Starkist foil packs I have and what do you know? BOTH say Tuna and Soy in the ingredients. Why the heck is soy in tuna?

I'm assuming the soy actually replaces some of the tuna; protein content stays the same, but it's not all meat. Not sure if that accounts for the decline in quality or if they're just using inferior fish or cuts of fish these days (yuck).

[Vlajos]

The vast majority of canned tuna is repulsive. The only thing that is edible are conservas from Spain and Portugal in my experience. France and Italy probably have decent stuff too, but I have no experience with canned fish from those countries.