FAQ
1. Is Sustainable Seas tuna packed in water or oil?
Sustainable Seas tuna is packed in water, and offered in both Salted and No Salt Added varieties.
2. Why is the Omega 3 content higher in Sustainable Seas Albacore tuna than competitive brands also packed in water?
We use smaller fish than many competitive brands for our Sustainable Seas line of tuna. These smaller fish naturally contain higher levels of Omega 3.
3. Why does the color of my salmon/tuna look off?
Tuna and salmon can both vary in the color of their meat, and since we do not use any whiteners or processing agents, you will see the actual color of the fish in our cans.
Wild salmon get their color by eating zooplankton, krill, and shrimp. These contain a reddish-orange compound called astaxanthin. That shrimp-heavy diet is also what turns flamingos pink. The degree of pigment is determined by the amount of astaxanthin in the diet, and also the fish’s ability to synthesize it. There can be variation among salmon from red to pink to light tan, and even to white in some king salmon. The meat will become lighter when fully cooked, as the canned salmon is. Canned pink salmon can range from pink to tan and nearly white, while sockeye salmon can vary from red to light pink. These are all normal variations.
While albacore are the only tuna that legally can be called white, they are not always white! Their color can range from pink to tan, even a little yellow or orange, and all the way to white. Like salmon, their color is also affected by diet. Albacore eat mostly cephalopods (squid, octopus and nautilus), and also fish, crustaceans, and gelatinous organisms. Tuna feeding on squid are more yellow or orange in color. The flesh of tuna feeding on crustaceans such as krill and shrimp will have a pink hue due to the astaxanthin content.
Sustainable Seas' insistence on canning only high quality fish without processing agents allows the true color and natural variation to shine through!
4. Are your products safe to consume past the Best By date?
The dates which we imprint on our shelf-stable products are to inform consumers of their best “quality” dates, not “safety” dates. As per the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, if a product is stored properly, it should still be safe to consume after its “Best By” date. You may read more information on the FDA’s Food Facts.
As an additional resource, you may also visit the USDA's Shelf-Stable Food Safety page containing a food storage chart which lists how long food should keep if stored properly. According to this resource, low-acid canned goods, such as fish, should be consumed within 2-5 years of the production date.
5. What is Sustainable Seas' position on the safety and welfare of the fishing and cannery labor we use to produce our products?
Recent news reports have brought attention to the heinous practice of forced and slave labor present aboard some Thailand-flagged fishing vessels operating multi-nationally. Sustainable Seas only buys seafood products from smaller-scale local vessels fishing in their own domestic waters. This is a positive benefit of our 100% pole and line sourcing policy. We do not buy from the large-scale fishing operations plying international waters. Our fish are caught aboard vessels fishing in compliance with local employment laws and discharging their catch in local, domestic ports. Further addressing labor issues, our international processing facilities are subject to annual Code of Conduct audits by third party firms for compliance with country-specific social welfare standards, labor laws, and regulations. Every business at each stage of our supply chain, from fishery to sales in the U.S and abroad, is verified for compliance.
6. If the oceans are being overfished and wrongly fished, wouldn’t it make sense to stop fishing altogether?
Consumers have inquired whether the best practice might be to stop fishing entirely. Please see this link for a condensed pdf of additional information: The Sustainable Seas Perspective: Why Responsible Fishing Supports Global Food Security.
7. Why are the pull tabs so hard to open?
It is a fine line to produce a scoring line that will hold the seal and yet be manageable to open. The Founder of Sustainable Seas, Bill Carvalho, explains: “It is important to make the scoring light enough so as to be shelf stable and resist rupture, but heavy enough to allow opening”.
While these can sometimes be challenging to open, Sustainable Seas chooses to use these lids because the majority of our customers prefer this convenient style of opening. Many customers take the can to work or other remote locations to enjoy away from the kitchen. And since they are nutrient dense and shelf stable, they are an excellent choice for emergency go bags.
If you have difficulty opening the cans, please contact our customer service department.
8. Does Sustainable Seas use packaging containing BPA?
All of Sustainable Seas' products are packed in cans that do not have the intentional addition of BPA. Please see this link for a condensed pdf of additional information: The Sustainable Seas Perspective: BPA (Bisphenol A).
9. Why isn’t Sustainable Seas MSC-certified?
Sustainable Seas has elected to not use the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) as a certifying agency. Please see this link for a condensed pdf of additional information: The Sustainable Seas Perspective: MSC Certification.
10. What is Sustainable Seas' position on Marine Reserves?
Marine reserves or protected areas with either limited or prohibited fishing are generally accepted as effective conservation measures. Sustainable Seas supports the creation and enforcement of marine reserves. Please see this link for a pdf of additional information: Sustainable Seas Position Statement on Marine Reserves.
11. Why do my sardines sometimes appear very solid and completely intact, while other times they appear messy, with the skin dislodged?
Sardines have natural variation and the fat content may range from 4-25%. Colder waters and recent feeding will result in a fattier sardine, while warmer waters and not having recently fed will result in a more lean sardine. If you open a can of sardines that seems messy and the skin is dislodged, this indicates very fatty sardines. Since the fat is just below the skin, the skin is dislodged as the fat liquefies during cooking. This fat is composed of long chain Omega 3 fatty acids which are only available from fatty fish, shellfish, and marine algae. If you open a can to find beautiful, intact sardines, those are leaner and are higher in protein. The more sardines you eat, the more variations you will see!
12. Do Sustainable Seas products contain soy or soy-based ingredients?
None of our products contain soy in any form. Unlike many brands of tuna, Sustainable Seas tuna does not contain vegetable broth, hydrolyzed vegetable proteins or any other liquids or fillers, which often contain soy.
13. Are Sustainable Seas products gluten-free?
Sustainable Seas does not use gluten in any form. Sustainable Seas salmon are packed in their own natural juices. Our sardines, which are packed in water or olive oil, and our tuna options which are packed in water or other flavored ingredients are all naturally free of gluten.
A third party testing agency has found gluten to be non-detectable in all Sustainable Seas products, and we continue to monitor gluten presence through third party testing.
If you would like more specific allergen information, please call or email our Customer Service department, and we will be happy to answer your questions.
14. Why aren’t Sustainable Seas tuna and sardines canned in the U.S.?
It is Sustainable Seas mission not only to produce sustainable seafood, helping our oceans to thrive, but to produce that seafood at a cost which the average family can afford. To accomplish this, we have elected to process our albacore and skipjack tuna, and sardines in state-of-the-art partner facilities in Vietnam, Thailand, Morocco, Ecuador and occasionally Peru. Each of these canneries is required to meet international sanitation and worker welfare standards, and they are third-party audited to ensure continued compliance.
Since Sustainable Seas sources from environmentally exemplary fisheries around the world, our selection of strategically located canning facilities noted above also results in fewer transportation miles. Please see this link for a condensed pdf of additional information: The Sustainable Seas Perspective: Sustainable Seas Overseas Processing Facilities.
When possible we partner with U.S. canneries. Sustainable Seas Pink Salmon are canned in Alaska, near the fisheries.
15. What are the small crystals resembling glass that are occasionally found in canned seafood?
These harmless crystals, called struvite, are formed by magnesium, ammonia and phosphate, elements occurring naturally in seafood. Sometimes, during the cooking process, these elements crystallize to form what looks like tiny particles of glass. They are safe if consumed, as natural stomach acids will dissolve the crystals, which are then absorbed by the body. They also dissolve when boiled in lemon juice or vinegar.
16. Is there mercury or chemicals in Sustainable Seas salmon?
All of our salmon are wild-caught from clean, clear waters in Alaska. Because of their shorter lifespan of three years, they do not have the chance to accumulate higher amounts of mercury and other contaminants. This makes salmon an excellent choice for their high Omega 3s, high protein, and low levels of contaminants. FDA tests of canned salmon show it to average 0.014ppm; Sustainable Seas' tests of our pink salmon average 0.013ppm.
17. How is Sustainable Seas' offering of smaller, younger fish consistent with a sustainability mission when these fish haven’t had a chance to breed?
There are two fishing segments targeting albacore worldwide; surface fisheries which catch migratory juveniles, and deep-water long-line, which captures spawning stock. Young migrating fish caught by pole and line are not the babies, but the three to five year old fish that weight 9-25 pounds each. Fishermen avoid fishing on schools that are smaller than 9 pounds and the US buyers do not accept those smaller fish, either. The west coast pole and line or troll fisheries *, for example, capture less than 15% of the migrating bio-mass which means that 85% of the fish will return to spawning stocks. This escapement is acceptable in order to sustain the population of the species.
* For a definition of pole and line and troll fisheries, please see How are Sustainable Seas fish caught?
18. What measures do we take to minimize the amount of mercury in our tuna?
The average mercury content of tuna rises with the age and size of the fish. Sustainable Seas only sources pole and line as well as troll caught tuna, which are the younger and smaller, migratory tuna that are caught near the surface. These fish (3-5 years of age) have accumulated lower levels of mercury as compared to older and larger tuna (6-12 years old) which live at much lower depths and in a different part of the Pacific Ocean. Our annual testing protocol, summarized in the accompanying document, verifies that Sustainable Seas tuna products average 0.067PPM for Skipjack (which is 14 times lower than the FDA “Action Limit” of 1.0PPM) and 0.17PPM for Albacore (which is six times lower than the FDA “Action Limit” of 1.0PPM). Sustainable Seas has been controlling the average and range of mercury in its products since 2004 and continues to do so. Please see this link for a condensed pdf of additional information: The Sustainable Seas Perspective: Mercury Content In Tuna.
19. Where are your products sourced?
Albacore Tuna: Pole and line fleets, as well as troll fleets, in the North Pacific working in the United States and Japan. We also source a smaller amount of albacore from troll vessels working in New Zealand.
Skipjack Tuna: Pole and line caught in Japan, Indonesia, or the Maldives by small-scale family fishing vessels.
Sardines: Sustainably sourced from well-managed Atlantic fisheries in Morocco, our wild sardines are single-species caught using unassociated purse seine nets. The vessels sourcing these sardines do not employ the use of unsustainable Fish Aggregating Devices; conversely, they target free-swimming schools of sardines. Any incidental by-catch of other species, such as mackerel or anchovy, is fully retained and utilized. These fisheries are examples of excellent fishery management and as such, provide abundant stock for harvest. Sustainable Seas offers traditional sardines which include nutrient-rich skin and bones.
Salmon: Sourced in Alaska.
20. Are your fish products wild or farm raised?
Sustainable Seas carries only wild caught seafood products, our fish are never farmed.
21. How are Sustainable Seas fish caught?
Our tuna are caught individually using pole and line or trolling methods. The pole and line fishing method involves catching tuna one by one, using a pole, line and hook. The troll fishing method involves fishing with a lure on a line that you pull through the water.* These methods ensure that no other marine life is caught or harmed in the process, unlike long-line and FAD (fish aggregating device) purse seine methods which are employed by other tuna companies.
Sustainable Seas pink salmon and sardines are “free school” purse seine caught; no FADs are used to attract the fish.
*Troll fishing should not be confused with trawl fishing, which involves a large, wide mouthed fishing net dragged by a vessel along the bottom or midwater.
For more information, please view our page on sustainability and fishing methods.