We’re always trying to be responsible when it comes to our food, and for us that means planting our own gardens, purchasing as much local or organic food as possible, and looking at local sources for meat. When it comes to fish and seafood, though, things can get pretty confusing. Luckily, we were lately turned on to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Super Green List”. This provides information on what seafood to eat based on three criteria: levels of contaminants such as mercury and PCBs, Omega 3 levels, and environmental concerns.
Here are their current top eight choices -
Albacore Tuna, caught by pole or trolling from waters off of British Columbia or the United States.
Farmed Mussels
Farmed Oysters
Wild Caught Pacific Sardines
Wild Caught Pink Shrimp from Oregon.
Wild Caught Salmon from Alaska.
Wild Caught Spot Prawns from British Columbia.
Farmed Rainbow Trout
Their report, found here, contains a wealth of other information. The only warning — it’s a large .pdf, and takes a while to load if you don’t have high-speed internet.
Our own research led us to a wonderful discovery last year. We were trying to find a canned tuna that would be healthy, delicious, environmentally responsible, and affordable. After a long time on the computer, we placed an order with Oregon’s Choice. Their website fulfilled our desire to know everything we could about their tuna — how it is caught, how it is canned, and its nutritional content. Spend some time on their site and you’ll be fully educated about the tuna situation.
Best of all, their tuna is GOOD! We get the regular gourmet albacore lightly salted, canned in its own juices (tuna and salt and nothing else), and were pleasantly surprised to find that it is totally different than the cat-food quality tuna we had previously eaten at the grocery. There are big flakes of meat, the flavour is exceptional, and if you add the juices to your meal you get an extra dose of Omega 3 fats. If you enjoy tuna, it’s definitely worth the purchase. When comparing prices, note that they have two can sizes — one of which is quite a bit larger than the standard grocery cans.
The life in the sea is being hit hard by the impact of fishing. We do enjoy eating fish, but it tastes a lot better when you know that you’re eating a species that isn’t on the brink of destruction.
Here’s our favorite tuna fish sandwich recipe: Take one 7.5 oz. can of tuna and mix with 1/4 cup finely chopped carrot, 1 green onion (the long thin ones), and 1/2 cup finely chopped purple cabbage. Add your choice of mayo or miracle whip. Squeeze in one slice of lemon, and get liberal with the cracked pepper. A dash of garlic salt and some hot pepper flakes, and you’re ready to serve on some nice whole-grain bread. Yum!
Posted on December 22nd, 2009 by Kenton and Rebecca
Filed under: Reviews
Thank you for the seafood information. I will definitely check out their website. I absolutely love tuna and look forward to giving theirs a try. Your recipe sounds delicious. I am always looking to try new things and this will be one I try soon.
Hello MObugs!
Do let us know what you think. We’re fond of trying different vegetables in there — even sometimes a bit of apple. Tuna certainly is a good fish, and we were happy to discover that not all tuna has to carry mercury worries. It’s how it’s caught that makes the difference — with pole or trolling, it’s the young fish that are caught, who aren’t full of contaminants.
Then again… check out this one at Greenpeace. Where you buy it may matter too! (See their scorecard on p 5 of the pdf.)
Haven’t eaten tuna since the old dolphin days-probably before you were born! (grin) Even now, I’m not convinced it’s a good idea to eat any fish, because of environmental concerns, not just ingesting mercury etc.
It’s a tough world and no simple choices these days… but the health of the oceans is vital to all of us!
Can I have a Tuna Sammy? Boy does that sound great! Double check your grouper shot as it won’t load for Ken or I and now I’m really curious…Once again, this is just wonderful information, thank you. When I lived in Key Largo (nearly 8 years) a buddy of mine and I would set lobster traps on the ocean side as he lived on the shoreline and I can’t tell you how much lobster we enjoyed. I just never realized my good fortune until I had Key Largo in my rearview mirror…nothing like fresh and I do agree, we need to choose wisely as so many varieties are simply disappearing. Wonder if Orange Roughy is still being over-fished? Most likely. Grrrr
Hello Jay!
Thanks for the heads-up on the image — hopefully it’s fixed now. It’s a fish ball we were swimming through in Mexico, and the big grouper who was hunting in the middle. The grouper and a giant barracuda who also enjoyed the fish ball would keep having little territorial tifs.
Bummer on Orange Roughy, I know. Here’s the aquarium’s take on things: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?fid=54
Your lobster adventures sound amazing! We’ve never had it fresh from the ocean like that.
Hi Sally,
What a great resource! You’re absolutely correct — there really are no simple choices, and it can be quite a challenge to keep informed enough to make decisions that will be as gentle as possible. Thanks for adding this additional information!
Hiya guys, I had to write and tell you that we received our first shipment of Oregon’s Choice Tuna today. I made tuna patty’s, rice and corn for supper, and the family licked the platter clean. We all agreed that is was the best tuna we’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. I could seriously open a can and eat it straight. I plan to eat a lot more tuna these days. Thank you so much for recommending their site on your blog. I plan to make your tuna salad recipe next.
Hello Mobugs!
So glad you liked it. We’ve had that ‘straight from the can’ urge as well, but hadn’t mentioned it in the post. When we called them to get some information for this post, we were invited to talk to the father of the family, who also captains the ship and was going to tell us all about his fishing. We’ve yet to take them up on the offer (we’ll do it for a future post), but it’s was amazing to see a company that is so open about its practices, and friendly to boot!
I just had to report in—I made the tuna salad recipe that you posted here. It is delicious; tuna with a kick. I loved it! I will be sure to fix it more frequently when warm weather returns. I tend to prefer eating tuna when it is warm outside for some reason. If you get the chance, try this tuna as “tuna Patties” instead of salmon. It is excellent that way.
Hi MObugs!
Glad you liked it! Actually, we also go for tuna more in warm weather — ha! We’ll definitely give the ‘tuna patties’ a try — it’s a great idea, and we’re not sure why we didn’t think of it!