This post was updated 1 Dec 2011.
I’m super glad Greenpeace has put out this Canned Tuna Guide guide. Here I was thinking Sirena was best. Amazing how an idea can spread, and how it sticks…
Canned tuna is the biggest selling seafood item in Australia. As supermarkets sell more and more of this profitable product, tuna stocks are in a critical condition. Greenpeace is now putting pressure on supermarkets and consumers to take responsibility for this problem. Overfished species such as Bigeye and Yellowfin Tuna are ending up on Australian supermarket shelves. Greenpeace is encouraging supermarkets to switch to sustainably caught Skipjack Tuna.
And fishing methods introduced to protect dolphins kill endangered turtles and sharks. But consumers would not know this from the label on the can.
As of 2011, Greenpeace’s new revised list puts Fish 4 Ever tuna on top as most sustainable. It’s available in health food shops, and has a gorgeous label design. SInce I first posted the guide, Safcol has made massive improvements and now offers Australian customers canned tuna caught using a sustainable fishing method. Most brands have also ruled out using threatened Yellowfin Tuna.
For an interactive image with more information on each brand, go here.
Yet there’s a long way to go. In the UK, every major canned tuna player has stopped using destructive fishing methods, but Australia lags behind.
It’s time Australian brands change their tuna.Take action now!
thank you sarah!! i needed that. tuna has to be the most confusing thing to buy and like you, i used to swear by sirena! thanks again. amanda : )
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I’ve just eaten my (last) John West tuna wrap while reading this. Didn’t enjoy it at all. Shame on these companies. Thanks for the heads up Sarah, will make for an easier time in the tuna aisle at the supermarket.
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Sarah, where can I find Melbourne’s best Mexican. Given the surge in spanish/mexican flavour profiles coming through the food sphere, I want to know where I can get Melbourne’s best Mex.
Great Mex is fresh, generally low in fat and extreamly healthy for you. I lived in the US for a short while and I have to say the Australian experience of Mexican is poor to say the least.
Cheers Tim
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wow this is great thanks
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Tim – give Mamasita (Collins Street, City) or Blue Corn (Barkly Street, St Kilda) a try for great mexican.
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This was great, because there I was thinking Greenpeace did nothing but send annoying people out to stand on street corners, and then there was this; something quite useful!
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[...] Sarah Wilson recently analysed the greenpeace investigation into Australian tuna. Like Sarah, I was a fan of Sirena. Now I’ll be rethinking my choice and saving money in the process. [...]
I’m SHATTERED! I’m a Sirena lover too! But this article has made me change my mind. I’ll now use my shopping dollars to vote for a more sustainable brand. Thanks for posting this great information.
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I may be wrong but I’m quite certain that NONE of these brands are actually made from Australian tuna. I’ve never found one. Nearly all of them come from Asia, usually Thailand, even Sirena’s ‘Italian style’.
Aldi stocks Ocean Rise brand premium Albacore white tuna. One the label it says ‘sustainably pole caught’ and ‘certified sustainable seafood http://www.msc.org‘ I think it tastes strange though.
Other than that I’ve only ever found a few Italian (usually in a glass jar and quite expensive) or the Ortiz Spanish brand but it’s super expensive.
I’ve pretty much stopped eating tinned tuna altogether.
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[...] Perhaps it is just that Coles got feed up with being number 2 on the tuna sustainability index [1, 2, 3] by GreenPeace [...]
I had no idea that this was such a complex issue – thank you for the heads up!
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Bit off topic but I was wondering if anyone knew which brand has tuna in olive oil (that doesn’t also contain seed oils like sunflower or soybean).
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wow. just wow. very informative.
I finally bought Sirena tuna after being criticised by family regarding the purchase of Coles tuna. Out of curiosity, i searched “sirena monitor tuna stocks” and your article was fifth. It definitely needs to be first!.
Well done. A+ article.
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Aren’t they are still made in Thailand???? All of them?
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Oh dear not Sirena. Unfortunately it will take more than this to upset the tuna hierarchy in my Italian in-law’s pantry which sees Sirena as king.
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[...] while back I did a post on which tinned tuna to buy… it’s so important to make good choices. And there ARE good choices you can make. You can [...]
I was in Melbourne visiting from the U.S. last year… my god your canned tuna is so much better than what we have. I LOVED the john west tuna with olive oil, we have NOTHING like it here.
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I love my Sirena and will continue to eat it
I like the taste of Yellowfin tuna so as long as its available people who love it will eat it.
thats the reality.
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I’ve tried probably all the brands of tinned tuna available in supermarkets. Disregarding all the disgusting “flavoured” tuna, they are nearly all pretty poor quality. Importing stuff canned in Thailand virtually guarantees cheap junk. The best, in my view, and I’m only talking of quality, not sustainable fishing, is Woolworth’s select Tuna chunks in Extra Virgin Olive Oil – at least its edible – just! The problem is that when people have no choice on quality they can’t judge what is good. All this rubbish is simply a waste of tuna – sustainable or not. Try the Spanish brand Ortiz to see what tinned, or bottled, tuna can taste like. It’s time we got a bit more fussy about what our supermarkets sell us.
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