The "best" tuna depends on your priority: for lowest mercury & sustainability, choose Skipjack (pole-and-line/FAD-free); for higher Omega-3s, choose Albacore (but it has more mercury); for flavor, Yellowfin is great for steaks, while Bluefin is a sushi delicacy (but avoid for sustainability); and for convenience, choose tuna in water (less fat/calories) or oil (more flavor/omega-3s), with brands like Safe Catch (low mercury), Wild Planet, or Portuguese Bom Petisco often praised.
Albacore is a nutrition powerhouse, rich in protein, essential minerals and vitamins, and heart-healthy fats. A single serving (3.5 ounces or 100 grams) of albacore meets about half of the USDA's recommended weekly seafood intake of eight ounces.
Yellowfin and skipjack are a bit softer and have a richer, more intense taste. The choice comes down to personal preference: If you like a less “fishy” tuna experience, go for white tuna; if you want stronger flavor, light tuna is a better choice. Nutritionally, all three of these fish are pretty similar.
Sirena tuna is considered good because of its premium quality, using pole-and-line caught yellowfin tuna, which results in a richer flavor, firm chunky texture, and lower mercury levels compared to other brands. Consumers praise its superior taste, often packed in quality oils or springwater, making it versatile for salads, sandwiches, and meals, despite being a pricier option.
Bluefins are widely regarded as the Kings of the Tuna family, and rightfully so. Thanks to a number of physical attributes, Bluefins boast a richness of flavor you just won't find in another fish. Bluefin Tuna are almost exclusively found in the form of sashimi.
Top 10 Tunas
#1 grade tuna should have a fine and smooth texture, it should not be coarse or grainy. Lastly, fat content. Higher fat content means higher quality and better taste. Usually high fat content will be grade #1 tuna and sold to the sushi market.
The larger the tuna species, the more mercury it contains. I would avoid Albacore tuna, which has 3 time the levels of mercury compared to the smaller species, such as Skip Jack. Children up to age six shouldn't eat albacore more than once a month (3 oz. portions); children ages 6–12, twice a month (4.5 oz.
Tuna, salmon, sardines, mackerel, mussels, oysters: The healthiest types of tinned fish.
Sirena tuna tends to have lower mercury levels thanks to pole-and-line caught yellowfin tuna, a sustainable method that targets individual smaller fish and helps protect ocean ecosystems.
BRI's Global Biotic Mercury Synthesis (GBMS) database, together with associated FAO harvest data, indicate that skipjack tuna have the lowest mean mercury concentrations (Figure 1) among nine species sampled.
Which one should I choose?
The 13 Healthiest Tinned Fish, Packed With Protein and Omega-3s
3 The FDA recommends consuming fish lower in mercury. For tuna varieties, skipjack earns the Best Choice label from the FDA, while yellowfin and albacore receive the Good Choice label. The FDA suggests avoiding bigeye tuna, which has the highest levels of mercury.
Albacore tuna is also higher in mercury than skipjack tuna. If you want to buy sustainably sourced tuna, look for the terms “pole-and-line-caught,” “troll-caught,” or “school-caught” on can labels.
Healthy tuna recipes
Sirena tuna is considered good because of its premium quality, using pole-and-line caught yellowfin tuna, which results in a richer flavor, firm chunky texture, and lower mercury levels compared to other brands. Consumers praise its superior taste, often packed in quality oils or springwater, making it versatile for salads, sandwiches, and meals, despite being a pricier option.
Morrisons' tuna was tasty and had proper chunks of meat in the tin, and overall was nice. The tinned tuna in spring water from Tesco had slightly more flavour than others in the taste test, but it was slightly too salty. After rinsing away a little of the salty water, this tuna was delicious in a salad.
Safe Catch is the ONLY brand mercury testing Every Tuna, Every Time. Lowest mercury of any brand, guaranteed. Always wild, sustainably caught. The best seafood nature has to offer.
Avoid tuna caught in the Indian Ocean. Avoid imported albacore, bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tunas caught with drifting longlines and most tuna caught with FADs (scroll down for more information).
Tuna is richer in selenium, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, phosphorus, and vitamin D, while steak is higher in zinc, iron, and vitamin B2. Tuna covers your daily need for selenium, 139% more than steak. Tuna contains 14 times more vitamin D than steak.
Made with Skipjack tuna, common brands like Canned Light or Chunk Light only have about 20 micrograms of mercury in a five ounce can. Larger fish like Albacore and Yellowfin have up to 50 micrograms per can, while Atlantic Bluefin, the largest tuna, can have as many as 283 micrograms per five ounces.
The tuna that's safest for using for sushi, is frozen quickly after catching and frozen for at least 7 days to kill parasites. The ahi tuna at Aldi is “sushi grade” for this reason. I make these tuna bowls with that tuna allll the time. This is a light and bright and delicious meal.
Japanese Standards and Practices
Fish used in sushi and sashimi must meet high freshness standards and are often flash-frozen to kill parasites.
Let's look at the criteria and differences between the tuna grades. Tunas are commonly graded as #1, #2+, #2 and #3. Sometimes, you will see grades like 2-, 2G, 1-, 1+, or even letter grades, but we'll just consider the grades most often used by tuna traders.