Is there mercury in tuna from the brands “5 Seas”, “Fortuna”, “Bering” and how much meat is in the jars from “White Whale” and “Iberica”?
In Russia, people are accustomed to stocking up on pork or beef stew, but outside the country, canned tuna is just as popular when building home food supplies. However, how sure can you be that it’s tuna?
Canned tuna is becoming more and more popular among Russian consumers. If earlier jars with this fish were stale for a long time on the shelves, now they began to take them apart better, and cook from such meat more often. Even despite the fact that the cost of canned food with this fish may not be cheap. But here’s what’s important: how tasty and healthy this delicacy fish is, you need to be so careful with it. This is due to the risk of overdose of mercury from tuna, which WHO regularly warns consumers about.
On the shelves of Russian stores you can find many varieties of canned tuna. But how honest are manufacturers with buyers? And are they trying to cheapen the process of creating their products to the detriment of the finished product?
The authors of the NashPotrebNadzor program, together with experts from the Roskachestvo laboratory, decided to find out how high-quality and safe canned tuna is offered to consumers in Russian stores.
To do this, canned tuna from seven brands was purchased in ordinary supermarkets: 5 Seas, Fortuna, Bering, Bars, Ultramarine, White Kit and Iberica.
What’s in the banks?
First of all, the experts decided to check whether the amount of tuna in the jar matches what is stated on the label and find out what is more in the jars: precious meat or broth, because they are not cheap. The results of the examination showed that all the selected producers met the norms of the Russian standard, which indicates that each jar should contain at least 50% of meat.
However, not everyone writes honestly about the weight of tuna on packages. After all, if you write one thing, but in fact put less, it turns out that you can save money from each can and cheat a little. So, in a jar from the manufacturer “White Whale” there was less than the amount of fish that the manufacturer indicated on the label.
Next, the experts decided to check the presence and quality of the fat contained in each can of canned tuna. As the test showed, the fat is natural and contains useful substances necessary for the human body. Such results indicate that the fish was fresh in cans. This is confirmed by the fact that the fat in the jars is not rancid and natural.
In the next step in testing canned tuna, the experts at the lab decided to test one of the most common fears among shoppers, does the deli meat contain mercury, arsenic, lead or cadmium?
The results showed that even if there are heavy metals in the selected product samples, their amount is so insignificant that the consumer should not worry about this. Their quantity in the finished product will not cause any time to the human body.
Based on the results of the check, the experts and the authors of the program unanimously concluded that each of the selected samples of canned tuna is safe.
However, when buying, it is worth remembering that some of the manufacturers are more honest with consumers, and some are less. The final decision will always remain with the consumer.