Tuna: What's better - 'Oil' or 'Water'?

Oil by a long shot.

So I’ve been told emphatically by a colleague who oughta know – he has a BS in Meat Science and was Manager of Process Development for “Big Tuna”. (Tell ‘em Charlie sent you?). With over 500 tuna product tasting panels under his belt (literally), he claims that “No one in the [tuna] industry eats the water pack unless forced to. More water is sold, but oil is way better.”

So, what makes the water packed product so inferior? When the precooked tuna meat is retorted (cooked in the can) with water, the water moves into the fish, which makes the fish mushy and changes the flavor. The water also contains high levels of salt as well as a vegetable broth containing soy fiber. In effect, you’re getting watered down fish – and less actual tuna meat in the can.

With oil packed tuna, none of this happens. The oil surrounds the tuna meat, but doesn’t migrate into it. Much less broth is used or, in some cases, no broth at all – which means you taste the superior tuna flavor, not the veggies and soy.

The vegetable broth is added solely to create water retention in the fish cake – which increases the “press weight” (amount of “fish” in the can), which determines the weight claimed on the can label. With oil pack, you get more actual fish; around 3 ounces of tuna meat in a 6 ounce can.

Ok, but we all buy the water packed product because it’s a LOT better for you, right?

Wrong.

Once you drain the can, both the ‘oil’ version and the ‘water’ version are remarkably the same, nutritionally. In fact, the calorie and fat content are equal. The water pack actually has slightly more sodium and the oil pack has slightly more protein.

Then, why is the water packed product the big seller?

In the early 1970's the big 3 tuna companies started moving tuna operations off shore. (At that time, well over 95% of all canned tuna was packed in oil.) The US Government decided to get involved (surprise) and fix the off shore ‘problem’ by imposing a special tariff on incoming tuna. In true bureaucratic fashion, the regulation referred to “canned in oil”. The tuna industry decided to beat the tariff by promoting the health benefits of water pack… and over the years have managed to convince us of exactly that. The public now ‘knows’ that water packed tuna is the best!

By the way...according to my friend (who is no longer in the tuna industry - and, therefore, unbiased), the best tuna on the market is Genova's Tonno in olive oil. You can find it in the ethnic section of most large grocery stores....