When it comes to tuna, you can’t always judge a fish by its color.
Some North Carolina fishermen and seafood dealers would love to get the word out to consumers on this point.
“People need to quit buying on the color of a fish because a pale tuna can be just as fresh as a red tuna,†said Jack Cox, an owner of Blue Ocean Fish Market in Morehead City. The problem, Cox said, is that many people shop with their eyes.
Looks can be deceiving.
Increasingly, tuna sold in the supermarkets, and sometimes fresh markets, has come from overseas and has been processed with carbon monoxide, either applied as a gas or as a component of filtered wood smoke called tasteless smoke or cold smoke before it has been frozen. “They call it fixing the color so that it stays red,†said Barry Nash, seafood technician and marketing specialist for N.C. Sea Grant.
Dewey Hemilright, a commercial fisherman from Wanchese, thinks the state should warn people about it. “I think it should be our state's responsibility to protect its citizens on something like that,†Hemilright said.
“We don't like the gassed tuna at all,†Cox said.
Tuna turns brown quickly, even when it is frozen, Nash said. While a tuna filet that has changed color is not necessarily spoiled, the public perception is that it is not as high of quality meat as when red, he said.
The carbon monoxide processed fish generally comes as packaged loins that retailers can take out of the freezer as needed.
“It looks good; it's beautiful stuff,†said Brian Moore, also an owner of Blue Ocean Market. “A lot of guys are carrying it because it's cheaper.†But it is not fresh-caught tuna and Blue Ocean Market does not sell it.
Wal-Mart in Morehead City does, and the customers seem to like it, said Dana Mitchell, who runs the meat counter. “I have never heard them complain about it,†Mitchell said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration classifies tasteless smoke as a food additive generally recognized as safe, and it is legal in this country so long as it is used to preserve the fish color, not enhance it. The FDA also requires the product label indicate that it is a processed food and that it not be represented as fresh or fresh frozen.
Therein lies some of Hemilright's complaints. “It is not being sold as a frozen product, it's being sold as fresh,†Hemilright said. He said he has seen treated tuna marked as premium grade in the markets.
Additionally, several other countries have banned the importation of tuna treated with carbon monoxide over concerns that it could be used to mask inferior products. This poses a health risk, Hemilright said. And if anyone ever got sick from eating bad imported tuna, the resulting backlash would cripple the domestic industry, as well. “It could be a public nightmare and hurt our economy in North Carolina,†he said. Hemilright said he would like to see a government-sponsored marketing campaign for domestic-caught tuna similar to the wild shrimp campaign.
Joe Reardon, food administrator with the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said that the state goes by FDA standards for tuna, though it would take complaints of illegal activity. Reardon said that processors may have only recently begun using additives for seafood, but preservatives have been used on other foods for years.
Fishermen are looking for a fair chance to sell their fish as freshly caught. Chemicals are being added to prolong the look of being fresh and colorful.
