The Biggest Tuna Recalls In US History

Yahoo

18-03-2025

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Tuna is a pretty hassle-free way to get your daily dose of protein and essential nutrients. Whether you're tossing it into a classic tuna salad or going the extra mile by pan-searing it to make your very own tuna burger, it's hard to go wrong with a can of tuna. Or is it?
Skipping canned tuna on your next grocery run might not sound like a life-or-death decision, but in some cases, it just might be. Over the years, tuna has been caught up in massive food recalls, some involving as much as 40 million pounds of product. From contamination with Clostridium botulinum, the deadly bacteria behind botulism, to elevated histamine levels, there are plenty of reasons why a seemingly safe tuna product can be a health disaster waiting to happen.
Below, we'll dive into some of the biggest tuna recalls in American history, revealing what went wrong and what consuming tuna from a tainted can could have meant for the unsuspecting consumer.
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There's a reason why tuna comes in cans, and no, it's not because it's not good enough to be sold fresh. The real reason is that tuna is rich in naturally occurring bacteria, making it one of the most perishable fish out there. Conventional preservation methods like freezing do not completely halt bacterial growth in fresh tuna and can only buy it about a couple of months before quality declines. Canning, on the other hand, is a pretty safe bet when it comes to tuna, allowing it to last for years on the shelf without refrigeration.
However, mishaps can still occur — something California-based seafood manufacturer and distributor Tri-Union Seafoods learned the hard way in February 2025 when it was forced to issue a massive recall for tuna sold under multiple brands, including Trader Joe's, Van Camp's, Genova, and H-E-B. The reason? A defect in the "easy open" pull-tab lids compromised the seal integrity, creating the perfect conditions for Clostridium botulinum — the dangerous bacteria responsible for botulism. In the low-oxygen environment created by an improperly sealed can, this bacteria can produce a dangerous toxin known as botulinum, which is potent enough to cause paralysis, respiratory failure, and death even when ingested in small quantities. Luckily there was no sickness reported due to the contaminated products.
When you hear the word histamine, your first thought might be those pesky seasonal allergies that send you rummaging through your medicine cabinet for that long-forgotten pack of allergy medicine. But did you know that histamine can also lurk in a seemingly safe can of tuna? Customers of Rhode Island-based seafood distributor Northern Fisheries learned this the hard way in November 2019 after the company issued a massive recall of Tuna King-brand frozen wild-caught yellowfin tuna medallions after tests revealed elevated histamine levels.
Now, I know what you're thinking. How exactly does histamine find its way into a batch of tuna medallions? Well, fish like tuna, mahi-mahi, and sardines contain high concentrations of an amino acid called histidine, which, when broken down by bacteria, becomes histamine. Improper handling and storage at temperatures above 86 degrees Fahrenheit increase the likelihood of bacterial buildup and, in turn, histamine accumulation in tuna.
When consumed, histamine can cause an allergy-like illness known as scombroid fish poisoning, which can affect anyone, even those without allergies. The worst part? Histamine isn't destroyed by freezing, canning, or cooking. Once it's in your seafood, the only safe option is to throw out the product. The silver lining is that proper handling and storage can prevent bacteria buildup and, as a result, elevated histamine levels in tuna.
All in all, 2019 was not a great year to buy yellowfin tuna — because most of it, as it turned out, was tainted with histamine. If you managed to dodge Northern Fisheries' recall in November 2019 and thought you were safe with Mical Seafoods, well ... no such luck. Just a month earlier, Mical was also pulling massive amounts of yellowfin tuna from the market for the exact same reason.
For starters, the company voluntarily recalled frozen, wild-caught yellowfin tuna poke cubes, 6-ounce tuna steaks, tuna ground meat, and tuna loins. Days later, the recall was expanded to include Tuna Saku. According to the FDA, all the recalled products had been imported from Vietnam — a detail that may not be entirely coincidental. There were four reported cases of illness due to this recall.
Scientists have found that elevated histamine is a major concern with seafood imported from tropical and subtropical regions due to improper handling after harvest and storage at high temperatures. What's more, multiple Vietnamese companies, including Golden Shrimp Seafood Joint Stock Company and Duong Ha Processing Trading Seafood Company Limited have received warning letters from the FDA for not adhering to regulations regarding histamine control.
Yet another company that got wrapped up in the histamine tuna recalls of 2019 is Alfa International. In September 2019, the Florida-based seafood distributor voluntarily recalled an unspecified amount of its refrigerated, wild-caught yellowfin tuna loins due to elevated histamine levels.
There were five illnesses reported as a result of the contaminated products in this recall. Scombroid poisoning is one of the most common seafood-related illnesses in the United States, so it's no surprise that multiple seafood distributors have had to issue recalls for histamine-tainted products. But what are the odds of so many recalls happening within months of each other? Pretty high — if all the companies got their yellowfin tuna from the same supplier. According to the Northwest Florida Daily News, an FDA investigation traced the tainted yellowfin tuna back to a Vietnam-based company, Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD., a major supplier to eight U.S. seafood distributors. These include Northern Fisheries, Mical Seafoods, and Alfa International.
"After further traceback we identified Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD as the common supplier of yellowfin tuna that was likely consumed by most of the ill people," FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response Frank Yiannas said in a statement.
Seafood has inspired a number of food trends over the years — some enduring, others not really standing the test of time. Remember the squid ink in everything craze? Or when Instagram made it seem like everyone was having ocean bowls for breakfast? But one seafood trend that shows no sign of fading is sushi. It's fairly affordable, convenient, and most of all, packed with essential nutrients and protein. But if you're a seasoned sushi connoisseur, you've probably had an unfortunate encounter with a bad batch.
That's exactly what happened to customers who dined at restaurants that happened to have purchased their ground tuna from Louisiana-based seafood supplier Jensen Tuna between November 30, 2018, and March 15, 2019. But this wasn't just a case of bad technique; customers were unknowingly eating raw fish tainted with salmonella, the bacteria responsible for some of the worst food-related disease outbreaks in history.
The issue was discovered after an FDA and CDC investigation traced a salmonella outbreak spanning eight states to frozen ground tuna supplied by the company. According to a CDC report on the outbreak, a majority of the 15 people affected reported eating sashimi, sushi, or ceviche made with raw fish prior to experiencing symptoms. As a result, the company was forced to recall an unspecified — but presumably massive — amount of frozen ground tuna sold to wholesalers in multiple states including Washington, New York, North Dakota, Connecticut, and Iowa.
Eating raw seafood has become somewhat of a norm in recent years, and while it's certainly convenient and trendy, it's not without its risks. We've all heard warnings about mercury, salmonella, and listeria, but did you know dangerous viruses like hepatitis A can also lurk in your raw seafood? That's exactly what customers of Hawaii-based Hilo Fish Company — a major importer and processor of fresh and frozen seafood — found themselves dealing with in May 2017 after the company issued a massive recall of frozen yellowfin tuna steaks and yellowfin tuna cubes sourced from Vietnam and the Philippines, respectively.
The recall came after Tropic Fish Hawaii, a subsidiary of Hilo Fish, discovered that its shipments of frozen tuna were tainted with hepatitis A. This prompted Hilo Fish to double-check its own inventory — only to find more contaminated lots. Though no illnesses were reported, the CDC urged anyone who may have been exposed to the tainted tuna to get vaccinated for hepatitis A immediately, since it can still offer protection from disease even after exposure.
Like every animal product, tuna must undergo thorough testing before distribution to ensure it's safe for consumption. Seafood companies typically have strict protocols to confirm that their shipments have passed all the requisite tests before hitting the market. However, mishaps can still happen — something Honolulu-based seafood distributor Tropic Fish Hawaii knows all too well.
In May 2017, the company was forced to recall an unspecified amount of frozen raw tuna cubes sourced from Indonesia. The issue? The products had already been distributed before the company received its testing results — results that would later reveal the tuna was contaminated with hepatitis A. "Our normal procedure is to receive the test results prior to distribution, but unfortunately, that did not happen with this particular shipment," Shawn Tanoue, president of Tropic Fish Hawaii told the Pacific Business News at the time. "We have corrected our procedures to ensure this will not happen again. I want to personally apologize to our customers and the public."
Canning is pretty effective at curbing bacteria build-up and thereby extending the shelf life of seafood like tuna. However, it's not completely foolproof, and bacteria can still accumulate, especially if the tuna is not processed properly before canning. That's exactly what San Diego-based seafood manufacturer and distributor Bumble Bee Foods found itself grappling with in 2016 after a routine inspection revealed that a lot of canned chunk light tuna produced in February 2016 might have been under-processed. The company blamed the problem on equipment malfunction at Chicken of the Sea's Georgia production facility, a third-party supplier for Bumble Bee.
"During a routine inspection, it was discovered there was a malfunction in a machinery part. That part has been replaced, and the proper functionality of the machine verified," Chicken of the Sea vice president of quality and compliance, John DeBeer, said in a statement, per CNN Health.
As a result, the company issued a voluntary recall of a whopping 31,579 cases of the canned chunk light tuna. Although no illnesses were reported as a result of consuming the under-processed tuna, the recall was by no means completely pointless. Consuming under-processed canned tuna can pose a number of health riskd — the biggest of which is severe food poisoning due to contamination with dangerous bacteria like Clostridium botulinum, which thrives in the low-oxygen environment created by canning.
As it turns out, Bumble Bee Foods' canned chunk light tuna was not the only product affected by the equipment malfunction at Chicken of the Sea's Georgia production facility. Also impacted was Tri-Union Seafoods, the seafood distributor and manufacturer behind the Chicken of the Sea brand. In this case, the company issued a voluntary recall of 107,280 cans of 5-ounce Chicken of the Sea brand canned chunk light tuna in water, also due to potential under-processing caused by equipment malfunction.
Although the exact nature of the equipment malfunction was not disclosed, the company noted that it resulted in deviations in the sterilization process, compromising the integrity of the final product. "These deviations were part of the commercial sterilization process and could result in contamination by spoilage organisms or pathogens, which could lead to life-threatening illness if consumed," the company said in a statement (via CBS News).
Sterilization is pretty much a non-negotiable step when canning seafood, which is highly prone to spoilage. Inadequate sterilization can create perfect conditions for the survival of histamine-forming bacteria and/or harmful bacteria like salmonella and listeria, which can pose serious health risks to unsuspecting consumers. Fortunately, despite these dangers, no illnesses were reported as a result of consuming the compromised products.
It turns out that 2016 was not the first time Bumble Bee Foods had found itself in the mire of a massive tuna recall. Just three years prior, the company was pulling a whopping 22,500 cases of its 5-ounce chunk white albacore and chunk light tuna from the shelves — this time due to packaging defects.
The company discovered that lots of chunk white albacore and light tuna packaged at its California plant and distributed to nationwide retailers between January 17 and February 28, 2013, did not meet its standards for seal tightness — which may have compromised the integrity of the canned product.
"Due to can integrity concerns, our top priority at this time is to remove these recalled products from distribution as soon as possible. We are working closely with our sales team and with retailers to help expedite the recall," Bumble Bee's senior vice president of technical services and corporate quality assurance, Steve Mavity, said in a statement, according to CBS News.
Sealing problems at canneries aren't as rare as you'd hope, and they seemed to be happening quite a lot in March 2013. Yet another company impacted was Tri-Union Seafoods. At the same time Bumble Bee Foods was pulling its chunk white albacore tuna in water from shelves due to loose seals, Tri-Union was also yanking its 5-ounce chunk white albacore tuna from stores for the exact same reason (via USA Today). And that wasn't the end of it. Just days later, on March 8, the company voluntarily recalled an unspecified amount of its Chicken of the Sea brand 5-ounce chunk light tuna in oil — also due to loose seals.
"The health and safety of our consumers is paramount. As soon as we discovered the issue, we took immediate steps to issue this voluntary recall by alerting our customers who received the product and by asking them to remove it from store shelves," Tri-Union Seafoods president, Shue Wing Chan, said in a statement, per ABC News.
There's a reason salmonella is one of the most common foodborne illnesses in the U.S. — it can contaminate practically anything. Fruits, vegetables, dairy, meats, seafood, and even eggs — no food group is truly safe from this bacteria. So, it should come as no surprise that tuna has been at the center of multiple salmonella-related recalls over the years. One of the biggest? The 2012 multistate outbreak linked to Moon Marine USA Corporation.
The California-based seafood distributor was forced to recall 58,828 pounds of frozen raw yellowfin tuna in April 2012 after the product was linked to 425 cases of salmonella spanning 28 states and the District of Columbia. The hardest-hit states were New York (62 cases), New Jersey (39 cases), Maryland (39 cases), Pennsylvania (37 cases), and Massachusetts (36 case), according to the CDC.
Barely a month later, Moon Fishery Pvt. Ltd., the Indian seafood company that had originally supplied the tainted yellowfin tuna to Moon Marine, recalled an unspecified amount of 22-pound boxes of tuna strips, which were also found to be contaminated with salmonella. Fortunately, despite the massive reach of the outbreak, only 55 people were hospitalized, and no fatalities were reported.
Tri-Union Seafoods might be behind one of the most ingenious tuna can labels ever — Chicken of the Sea — but customers familiar with the brand's history know that this ingenuity is no guarantee of product quality. The company has found itself in the mire of recalls on multiple occasions, one of the earliest occurring in 2010, when it was forced to pull 1,105 cases of Chicken of the Sea brand solid white tuna in water from the shelves due to a pretty familiar packaging error: loose seals.
The 12-ounce cans of tuna, which had been distributed between February and May 2010, were already in circulation in multiple states, including New York, California, Oregon, Utah, and Nebraska at the time of the recall. Fortunately, Tri-Union caught the issue in time, and no illnesses were reported as a result of consuming the compromised products. "We have notified all of our customers who have received the product and asked them to remove it from their shelves. Our immediate actions in this recall include re-evaluating our systems to ensure this error does not happen again," Tri-Union Seafoods president, Shue Wing Chan, said in a statement, per Food Safety News.
Bumble Bee Foods is renowned for at least two things: being behind Costco's Kirkland Signature Albacore Tuna and, regrettably, having somewhat of a notoriety when it comes to canned tuna recalls. Both 2013 and 2016 saw the company pull massive amounts of canned tuna products from the shelves, but its trouble with quality control dates back much further than the 2010s — way back to 1982. In this instance, the company was forced to recall a staggering 40 million pounds of canned tuna due to yet another packaging defect: holes in the cans.
The issue was discovered in February 1982 after a customer called the FDA upon finding a hole in a can of Bumble Bee tuna. FDA investigators turned up at the company's Honolulu plant, where they discovered a couple more perforated cans. Initial tests ruled out the presence of toxins, and investigators deemed the damaged cans isolated cases. However, more complaints emerged in the ensuing months — one from New York and two from Seattle — forcing the FDA to issue a Class II recall for the potentially compromised tuna.
Read the original article on Mashed.