San Diego, California, U.S.A.-based Catalina Offshore Products is launching its own brand of sustainable, locally harvested, canned tuna, it announced in advance of Seafood Expo North America, where it will be exhibiting at Booth #2316.
Catalina’s Choice Solid Pack Tuna in Olive Oil and Catalina’s Choice Smoked Solid Pack Tuna in Olive Oil will soon be available through the company's fish market and online store. The premium canned product features U.S. hook-and-line wild-caught Eastern Pacific bigeye and yellowfin tuna.
Founded in 1977 as a sea urchin wholesaler, Catalina Offshore Products has branched into supplying a variety of seafood, sourced mainly from the U.S. West Coast. It now receives tuna sourced from six boats fishing the Eastern Pacific Ocean and offloaded in San Diego. The tuna it is canning will help it use up its unsold product, it said in a press release.
“[This] enables Catalina Offshore Products to ensure the precious [tuna] resource is even more sustainably managed,” the company said. “From catch to can, Catalina’s Choice canned tuna is responsibly harvested by U.S. flagged vessels and processed and packed in the U.S. It is distributed through Catalina Offshore Products and available to wholesalers, restaurants, retail customers and institutions such as schools and hospitals.”
San Diego’s San Ysidro School District has proposed putting Catalina’s Choice on school lunch menus. The canned tuna aligns with the district’s initiative to provide more locally sourced ingredients to its students, as well as its participation in California Thursdays – a collaboration between the Center for Ecoliteracy and participating school districts to serve healthy, freshly prepared school meals featuring California-grown foods, the company said.
