FWIW:

http://www.consumersearch.com/blog/c...real-challenge

Choosing the Best Tuna Fish A Real Challenge

By Scott Nyerges on January 16, 2010


"Our post on choosing the best mayonnaise inspired a search for mayo-related
foods to review -- and canned tuna fish is a perfect choice. There are
plenty of tuna fish reviews online, which we thought would make choosing the
best canned tuna fish a cinch. But as we discovered, the sheer number of
tuna fish varieties proved to be a real challenge. Read on for our findings.


Kinds of canned tuna fish

There are several varieties of canned tuna fish available, including tongol,
albacore (also called white tuna), yellowfin and skipjack (sometimes called
chunk light tuna). It's packaged in one of three ways: solid (an entire
piece of tuna loin), chunk (broken bits of the tuna loin) and flake (slivers
left over from chunk tuna). Tuna fish is typically packed in either water or
oil (olive or vegetable), and it's available in sealed vacuum packs as well
(which, on average, cost twice as much as canned tuna). Chunk light tuna is
by far the most popular kind, accounting for 3/4 of all canned tuna sold in
the U.S., according to the industry trade group the Tuna Council.


Sorting though canned tuna fish reviews

With canned tuna fish available so many different ways, finding a consensus
among reviewers is a challenge to say the least. One of the better tuna fish
reviews can be found at Epicurious.com, where editors conduct a blind taste
test of 13 varieties of canned chunk light and tongol tuna, judging each on
taste, visual appeal and consistency. Their top three choices are, in order,
Whole Foods 365 Chunk Light Tongol Tuna Packed in Spring Water, Bumble Bee
Chunk Light Tuna in Oil, and Trader Joe's Tongol Chunk Light Tuna in Water.
The Whole Foods tuna earned a perfect score from editors, who praise it for
being "firm yet chewy, and perfectly salted."

On the other end of the spectrum, Epicurious editors pan Progresso Solid
Light Tuna in Olive Oil, Starkist Chunk Light Tuna in Vegetable Oil and Sea
Chunk Light Tuna in Oil. Progresso fares particularly poorly, with editors
complaining of a "pungent" smell and "bland, chalky" texture.

Food and Wine magazine starts with an even larger pool of canned tuna fish
varieties (30 in all) in three different categories: packed in water, packed
in oil and specialty import. Editors narrow down the field to three, picking
a favorite in each category: Chicken of the Sea Solid White Albacore in
water, Cento Solid Pack Tuna in oil and imported A's Do Mar Tuna in Olive
Oil. However, editors don't discuss their testing methodology, nor do they
identify the other 27 canned tunas they considered, making this short review
less comprehensive.

Cento Solid Pack Tuna also earns a nod from Philadelphia Inquirer critics,
who review eight brands of canned tuna. They praise Cento as "very
flavorful," although "slightly mushy" in texture. In this review, the top
three canned tuna fish varieties (the other two are specialty brands) are
all packed in oil, which reviewers say are more flavorful than those packed
in water. On the other hand, reviewers pan Progresso Solid Light Tuna in
Olive Oil ("fishy" and "mushy"), Starkist Solid White Albacore Tuna in Water
("exceedingly dry") and Starkist Albacore White Tuna in the pouch
("metallic" tasting).

We also consulted three different discussion threads at Chow.com, where
opinion is (not surprisingly) all over the map; Cento and Trader Joe's tuna
both get a few mentions in the most recent discussion thread.


Pouched tuna fish vs. canned tuna

Although pouched tuna fish is less common than canned tuna fish, it's
popular with some consumers because it's more convenient and it contains
less water. To determine which type is superior, Good Housekeeping magazine
pits the top three brands of canned and pouched chuck light and white
tunas -- Starkist, Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea -- against one another.
Editors admit they are partial to pouched tuna, saying it's "firmer and
fresher-tasting than canned, because it takes less than half the time to
process." They pick Chicken of the Sea Albacore pouched tuna fish as their
overall favorite, giving Chicken of the Sea Chunk Light pouched tuna equally
high marks. Interestingly, Chicken of the Sea's canned tuna finishes last in
both both categories, although editors don't say why.

Cook's Country magazine also reviews canned and pouched tuna, tasting eight
varieties of albacore. Their findings stand in stark contrast to the results
at Good Housekeeping and the Philadelphia Inquirer. In this review, two
well-known brands of canned albacore tuna fish earn the coveted "highly
recommended" label, while just one brand of pouched tuna fish earns a lower
"recommended" tag and another is merely "recommended with reservations."
However, you'll need a subscription to read the results of their test.

Our opinion

Few products seem to polarize reviewers more than canned tuna fish, perhaps
because there are so many varieties available. As such, no clear consensus
emerged among the reviews we read. That said, we'll give a tentative nod to
Chicken of the Sea Solid White Albacore Tuna in water and Cento Solid Pack
Tuna in oil as the best canned tuna fish, based on recommendations in two
foodie magazines and user feedback. We can't recommend a pouched tuna fish,
however; the reviews are simply too scattered.


Learn more about tuna fish

Want to know more about that canned tuna or pouched tuna you're eating? The
Tuna Council, an industry trade group, has oodles of fun facts and figures
on their website. Concerned about whether you're tuna has been sustainably
harvested or contains unsafe levels of mercury? The Environmental Defense
Fund website is an excellent resource for health and environmental info
about tuna fish..."

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