American Tuna
American Tuna
American Tuna was formed by six American Pole & Line fishing families in San Diego, California in 2005. The Mission of American Tuna is to provide a high quality sustainable canned albacore tuna customers can buy directly from the source. Using a traditional harvest and packing method, we offer the highest quality, all-natural, tuna pack on the market. American Tuna started in just two Whole Foods Markets in our hometown of San Diego and have expanded in to every Whole Foods location Nationwide as well as many other organic markets, restaurants, deli’s, and catering companies. Our products are hand filleted & hand packed Premium Albacore Loins.
The Tuna steaks are packed in the can by hand raw, sealed, and pressure-cooked, packing itself in fish oil. No added oil, water, soy, other fish, just premium albacore in its own natural fish oil. The packing method gives the customer approximately 7,800mg’s of Omega 3 per 6oz serving naturally, by not baking the product prior to canning, the Omega 3 retention is 100%, No Draining! The Fish Oil in the Can should be included with the Albacore while breaking up the Steak. At American Tuna we have 100% Traceability for every single albacore harvested, meaning we can trace our final canned and labeled product back to the vessel that caught it! American Tuna is caught using the MSC Certified Sustainable Pole & Line Harvest Method in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Packed by Hand in Oregon, our cans are BPA Free, and manufactured in America. Pole & Line caught Albacore Tuna are on average 12 – 20lbs, making them Naturally Low in Mercury, we test yearly for Mercury concentrations with Columbia food labs. American Tuna is ranked as the “Best Specialty Tuna” by Bon Appétit and has been featured as “Tuna you can Trust” by Martha Stewart Living.
Community
The quality of canned tuna has decreased over the last few decades as almost all commercial tuna fishing and canning has been outsourced to foreign countries. Unknown to many, the fact the West Coast of the U.S. was the Tuna Capital of the World for almost a hundred years. This transition to foreign flagged vessels led to the decline of west coast fishing communities and a subsequent decline in the quality of canned tuna in general. The West Coast of the U.S. is reliant on this fishery to support the small ports and towns that make up this beautiful coastline. Supporting American Tuna is supporting the preservation of artisanal fishermen, micro-canneries, and fishing families who helped pioneer the West Coast of the U.S.
No Waste
American Tuna utilizes 100% of the Albacore Tuna we process. We hand filleted the premium cuts off the albacore for canning and currently the remainder of the whole round is utilized for bait for both the crab and eel fisherman. There are new and sustainable industries emerging and will be utilizing the remainder of the whole round in sustainable, fertilizer, protein supplements, fish oil supplements, etc. By-product is also sent to RNG Nutrients for fertilizer.
Local Sourcing
American Tuna purchases & processes only MSC certified sustainable pole & line albacore from the American Albacore Fishing Association (AAFA). AAFA is comprised of 100% U.S certified pole & line vessels. These fishermen and AAFA have strict quality standards and protocols resulting in the highest quality whole round albacore in the world. Traceability back to Harvest Vessel is audited yearly, enabling any customer to view the vessel and fisherman who harvested the albacore purchased.
MSC Certified Sustainable Pole & Line Albacore Tuna: AAFA was the first tuna fishery in the world to obtain the MSC certification (marine stewardship council, MSC.org) for sustainability in September of 2007. American Tuna was the first MSC labeled canned tuna in the U.S. and has been recognized on multiple media platforms as the most trust worthy canned tuna available, anywhere.
