Oregon's Choice Gourmet Albacore

There are many issues related to eating tune, most of them rather scary.  Mercury is only one of them.  The situation is so bad that the FDA has issued guidelines, recommending the limited consumption of fish, especially for children and pregnant women.

Those guidelines are utterly ridiculous; there is no safe level of mercury for anyone.

"But I thought fish was supposed to be good for you"

Fish — as God made them — are an important part of a healthy diet.  They contain a great source of easily-digested protein, and oils that are important for everything from your brain to your skin.  The problem is, the combination of global pollution and commercial fishing has left us with something that God never intended (all theological debates aside).  I mean, when the FDA gets around to suggesting limiting it as a food choice for pregnant women and children, you know it has to be bad.

However, if you can find fish that isn't as tainted by pollution or commercial fishing practices, you just might have something.  That something is Oregon's Choice Gourmet Albacore.

Oregon's Choice fishes the old fashioned way.

• Instead of raising farmed tuna, or going way out to sea to catch the really big fish, they fish off the coast, catching young albacore — before they have the chance to eat mercury-laden food and concentrate that mercury in their flesh.  This lowers the levels of mercury in the Oregon's Choice tuna.
• Once caught, the tuna is bled and hung by its tail in a cooler to keep it from bruising.  The result is a much better-tasting tuna, without a lot of "fishy" taste.  Commercial fishers generally don't bleed their catch, because the added weight adds to the price they get.
• Once in the cooler, the temperature is maintained at an even temperature, which preserves the quality of the fish.  Commercial fishers typically turn off their coolers at night.
• Oregon's Choice cooks their tuna in the can (which is lined — no tinny taste or leaching metals), preserving its natural oils and flavor.  Commercial fishers generally cook their fish, destroying the oils, then cook the fish again — with added oils — in the canning process.  The result is dead, oil-deficient tuna that has limited, if any, dietary benefits.

It's a difference that's obvious with your first taste.  It's delicious, and really good for you.

I've tried eating tuna most of my life.  Not a lot; but fairly often.  I'd probably have eaten it more, but it always made me feel sick and nearly put my lights out.