MARTIN SLOANE \ Supermarket Shopper Store brand tuna seems to be much chunkier

Mail keeps coming in about problems with canned tuna. Several readers recommend upgrading to solid white albacore. "Albacore is always chunky," writes Bill Korzilius. "Tell your readers to spend a little more and get a better tuna."
For many of my readers who watch their pennies, the problem is they don't want to spend more. They don't want to be forced by the tuna producers to upgrade. The difference between chunk and solid is not a few pennies, but as much as a dollar a can. And the dollars add up when you make tuna salad and sandwiches on a regular basis.
In reading my tuna mail, I noticed that my reader Shirley Kelley recommended the IGA chunk light: "It is usually one large piece of tuna the way the national brands used to be." Rebecca in Houston wrote: "I have switched to the Kroger chunk light tuna. It is still in chunks and very good. I often find it on sale at two or even three cans for a dollar."
Are the supermarket house brand chunk light tunas better than the national brands? On a recent trip to San Diego, while visiting Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons, I purchased sample cans of their own label chunk light tuna in water. Here is what I learned: All of them were chunky! Ralphs' chunk light cans were all chunks, and in several samples a huge chunk took up half the can. The Albertsons samples were about 75 percent chunks and 25 percent smaller pieces. Vons' chunk light cans were all chunks -- each chunk was about the size of a quarter. The three house brands had a pleasant taste, and when I used them for tuna salad, I wound up with a chunky salad.
Findings
Based on my reader comments and my own experience, I am convinced that smart shoppers have a far better chance in finding good chunk light tuna-- and occasionally great sale prices -- by purchasing supermarket house brands instead of the national brands. Terry O'Neil, a spokesperson for Ralphs, explained why Ralphs' tuna is superior: "In offering Ralphs' brand products we look at the national brands and try to do them one better. We offer Ralphs' customers greater value as well as a higher quality product."
Supermarkets would be embarrassed, as well as suffer the loss of private label reputation, if their customers opened cans of mushy tuna that looked like they came out of a shredding machine. The national brands may not care if they just want shoppers to upgrade to their more expensive products. I urge my readers to try the house brands and let me know if they agree that the quality is better. (I should mention that Chicken of the Sea is in the process of upgrading to a better chunk light, which was recently introduced on the East Coast.) Here is another eye-opening fish story:
Dear Martin: Cod was on sale for $2.99 a pound at my local Hannafords and I bought two pounds. I placed a portion of the cod in a bowl of milk and put it into the refrigerator. A half hour later, I took the cod out of the refrigerator and noticed something strange. Two skinny worms, each about an inch-and-a-half long, were crawling over the cod. I didn't even bother to look at the other two portions. I got in my car and drove back to the store. The night manager filled out a report and refunded my money as well as gave me a $5 store certificate. Should I have been concerned? Ray Trudeau, Amsterdam, N.Y.
Dear Ray: You should be concerned when you find something out-of-the-ordinary in the food you buy. Here is what happened after you left the store: For Mathew Mogensen, the night manager, seeing the worms was as strange an occurrence as it was for you. He decided to take no chances and went to the seafood case and removed all of the remaining cod, even though he saw nothing unusual. He also froze your fish and its "passengers" in case anyone else wanted to see it. Early the next morning, Carl Tambasco, the store manager, faxed the returned product report to Hannaford headquarters in Scarborough, Maine. He asked for a customer service representative to call you as soon as they found out what these critters were.
Processing
Also that morning, Sherry Stevens, a Hannaford customer service representative, spoke with John Norton, the president of Cozy Harbor Seafood in Portland, Maine. Cozy Harbor processes more than 2.5 million pounds of fresh seafood each year. Norton assured Hannaford there was no reason to be alarmed. He identified the problem as cod worms, a naturally occurring parasite in cod and other species of fish. Cod worms are cleaned out of the fish, and in a final cleaning every fillet is passed over a transparent handling table where a strong light from below shows any worms that may remain embedded in the fish. "Our goal is zero parasites, but like other visual inspection methods, once in a while we may miss one," said Norton.
How many get away? Norton told me that he receives about one complaint a year. A Hannaford spokesperson tells me she checked customer complaint records over the last several years and found no reports of cod worms.
I spoke to Doctor George Hoskin, director of the Office of Seafood, Division of Applied Science and Technology of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He says cod worms are rarely found by consumers and they not a danger.
However, he recommends that fish be properly cooked to reach an internal temperature of 140 F. For example, cooking a 1-inch-thick fillet for 10 minutes at 350 degrees will kill any parasites. So will freezing fish for 60 hours.
XSend questions and comments to Martin Sloane in care of The Vindicator. The volume of mail precludes individual replies to every letter, but Martin Sloane will respond to letters of general interest in the column.
United Feature Syndicate