I Think the Safe Catch Ahi Tuna at Costco Tastes Great!

I was strolling through the Costco the other day and was surprised by how many different types of canned tuna they had in stock. At first glance you might think that “tuna is tuna” but it looks like there are some significant difference between the brands.

The tuna I am reviewing today is the Safe Catch Ahi Wild Yellowfin Tuna and it has an interesting, and tasty, story to tell.

Let’s take a look and see if this tuna is right for you!

Nutrition and Labelling

Let’s take a closer look at what you get in these cans of fish!

Nutrition Facts

One can of the Ahi Yellowfin Tuna has 5 ounces of product with a serving size of 2 ounces.  The nutrition facts for a single serving are:

• Calories: 70
• Fat: 0.5g (1% DV)
• Cholesterol: 25mg (8% DV)
• Sodium: 170mg (7% DV)
• Carbohydrates: 0g (0% DV)
• Protein: 17g

You could eat the whole can of tuna, tossed with some hot sauce perhaps, and it would only be 175 calories.

Ingredient List

The Safe Catch Tuna only has two ingredients:

• Yellowfin tuna
• Sea Salt

This tuna is not packed in oil or water.

Labelling

The labelling indicates that this product is:

• Mercury tested
• Sustainably caught
• The Official Tuna of the American Pregnancy Association
• Non-GMO
• Slow Cooked
• Paleo

There is a LOT of information packed onto and implied in the labeling for this tuna.  Let’s look at some of the more important claims in more detail.

Mercury Tested

One of the concerns people have about eating canned tuna is that tuna is often high in mercury and that stuff just isn’t good for you.

What makes this product special is that every single fish that is caught is tested for mercury to a level that is ten times lower than the FDA Action Limit.  While this level of mercury testing is the best I have seen for any tuna it must be used with caution.

Just because this tuna is ten times below the FDA Action Level for mercury this does not mean you can safely eat all that you want.  The FDA has published an excellent article detailing how to calculate how much fish you can eat without worrying about the harmful effects of mercury.

The safe amount of mercury you can consume is known as the Reference Dose.  The Reference Dose for mercury is 0.1 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day.

I weigh 200 pounds (90.7 kg) which means I can consume: (0.1 micrograms) x (90.7 kg) x (7 days per week) = 63.5 micrograms of mercury per week.

Safe Catch tests their tuna to a level of 10X below the FDA Action Limit ( 1 ppm) which corresponds to a testing limit of 0.1 microgram per gram.  We do not know if this tuna has mercury at a level of 0.099 ppm or less so, to be safe, we must assume a 0.099 ppm concentration.

A can of Safe Catch Ahi Tuna has 142 g of fish, which when you do the math, means it can contain 14 micrograms of mercury.

Since my Reference Dose is 63.5 micrograms per week this means that I can safely eat four cans of this tuna per week and still stay below (56 micrograms) my safe mercury limit.

Is Safe Catch Telling the Truth about Mercury Levels?

In 2017 one of the leaders in the world of sustainable tuna, Wild Planet, issued a scathing memo that, while not mentioning the Safe Catch brand by name, was clearly aimed at Safe Catch customers.

A sample of the text from the memo is below:

“We respectfully call attention to an important point: any brand making a claim of “safer” seafood rightfully
bears the burden of proof – but what would constitute proof? We suggest three points:

• Provide third-party verification as to the efficacy of their testing equipment and methodology;
• Deliver third-party accreditation that every fish is being tested;
• Produce third-party corroboration that no product available in the marketplace exceeds self-proclaimed
“strict mercury limits”.

None of this information is supplied by any company making these mercury claims. There is no third-party
evidence on any tuna company’s website verifying ANY of the extravagant claims
made. This raises questions which rightly deserve answers.”

A broad summarization of the Wild Planet statement is that: The technical ability to test every fish for mercury to such an incredibly low level in the field has never been demonstrated.  Any company that claims to have such technology should be viewed as suspect until the company proves such technology exists.

The Credibility of Safe Catch

I found an article published in BusinessWire about the founding of Safe Catch that does make the company’s testing technology seem plausible.

The gist of the article is that the founders of the company developed a proprietary method of testing seafood for low levels of mercury.  Their first business model was to sell the technology, or perform the testing, for other seafood companies.

Apparently the established seafood companies were not interested in low level mercury testing so that business angle fell through.

Instead, they decided to start their own seafood company based around the testing technology they initially developed.

A short quote from the article is below:

“We offered to test for big seafood firms, but they either didn’t think mercury mattered or didn’t think consumers cared. So, we launched a new health and environmentally conscious brand in seafood called Safe Catch.”

Sustainably Caught

Safe Catch does not provide a lot of detail on their fishing practices but do provide the following general information on their website.

“We proudly follow the recommendations of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch® program”

“…our Wild Ahi Yellowfin tuna are school caught, a process also known as FAD-Free (fish aggregating device free) purse seine.  If demand requires that we use other sources for our Wild Ahi Yellowfin tuna, we may use yellowfin tuna that are caught individually using the pole and troll method.”

“We are approved by the Earth Island International Monitoring Program as a Dolphin-Safe Distributor.”

It looks like Safe Catch is genuinely working hard to be one of the Good Guys in the tuna industry.

Taste Test!

I mix up this tuna with some Primal Kitchen Chipotle Lime Mayonnaise and pickle relish to make a pretty awesome tuna fish salad sandwich.  I use the whole can to make a monster sandwich and it makes me happy!

I did not pick up any meaningful flavor differences between this tuna and any other canned tuna I have eaten but I sure felt better about myself while I was eating it.

This tuna makes a tasty, healthy and filling lunch that I can safely enjoy 3-4 times a week.

Costco Value

I bought a six pack of 5 ounce cans at Costco for $11.99.  This works out to a cost of $2.40 per can and $0.40 per ounce.

You can buy the exact same six pack of five ounce cans from Safe Catch and it will cost you $19.00.

This means you will save about 58% on this tuna if you buy it at Costco and that is a pretty sweet deal!