Canned Tuna in Vegetable Oil vs Water

Most of the time tuna in vegetable oil is available in the form of canned tuna. That is why you can see a lot of this product in the supermarket near your house. However, there are actually other canned tuna forms that you should also know. Especially if you love to use canned tuna product to be included in your meal since this product is quite versatile thus it is very easy to cook many kinds of dish using canned tuna as the ingredient. If you know those tuna forms, then you will be able to choose suitable variation for your dish.

Even though it seems there are too many canned tuna in the supermarket, actually there are only two main forms available. Those canned tuna products only have different brand but actually the content are similar to one another. First form is the light canned tuna form and the second form is the white canned tuna form. Those two forms might be similar, but actually quite different. The first differences that you can see among those two forms are the substance form which input to soak the meat. The light canned tuna form is using water as the substance which input to soak the meat. But the white canned tuna form is actually tuna in vegetable oil which input oil to soak the meat.

Another difference that you can notice from those two forms is the tuna’s meat which used inside the can. The light canned tuna form usually using two kinds of tuna meat inside the can which are the yellowfin tuna meat and the skipjack tuna meat. However the white canned tuna form only using one kind of tuna meat inside the can which is albacore tuna meat.

You can easily take note on the two meat form difference since the color of those tuna meats is quite easy to distinct. The yellowfin tuna meat and the skipjack tuna meat will have darker meat color which ranges around tan color to dark red color. However for the albacore tuna in vegetable oil, the meat will have white color which a little bit pinkish. This is the reason why this meat form is called as white canned tuna. Moreover, the white tuna meat is also the most suitable meat to be produced into canned tuna.

Of course those tuna meats also have different kinds of flavor since they comes from different kinds of tuna fish. The yellowfin tuna meat and the skipjack tuna meat will have stronger flavor since it has dark color meat. But the texture itself is actually quite soft which kind of reminds you to chicken thigh soft texture. However for the albacore tuna in vegetable oil, the meat will have milder flavor and since it has white color meat it does not have strong fishy smell. But the texture itself is actually more firm which kind of reminds you to chicken breast firm texture. Luckily, more people love the white color meat better than the dark color meat since they do not like the strong flavor that the later has. This might also be the reason why white color meat canned tuna has greater availability in the supermarket.

Do not forget that you should also pay attention to the nutrition that each meat have so you can get more benefits from your meal. Especially since tuna meat is known to have omega 3 fatty acid content. This fatty acid is very good for your body development and growth as well as for the brain. However those two canned tuna form has different omega 3 level in their meat. The albacore tuna in vegetable oil actually have more omega 3 content compared to the light canned tuna form since the later has less fat content.

Another thing that you should pay attention to is the fact that all seawater fish also have mercury content. Canned tuna is a product made using seawater fish, thus it also have mercury content inside which is very dangerous on the nervous system. That is why you should limit your intake in certain level. Tuna in vegetable oil has three times higher mercury content compared to light canned tuna form, but it still safe to consume once every two weeks.