Our oceans are being recklessly and indiscriminately overfished and as a UK consumer and a seafood lover, for many years I have increasingly found little or no availability of truly transparent labelling and choice for natural tasting, sustainable, traceable, canned tuna. Labelling has become ambiguous and spurious, so to that end, I have, over the past 2-years explored the viability of incepting a tuna cannery on St. Helena Island in the South Atlantic Ocean (my birthplace).
St. Helena island is a British territory and its fishery operates under a mandatory pole & line only regulation, and I know first-hand that it is one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world, but importantly, I know the fishermen and the immense pride they have, and take, in how they catch and care for their tuna. Pole & Line has been the only way to catch tuna on St. Helena for almost 400-years. The fishery is also a Marine Protected Area and Mission Blue-Hope Spot and this in its self brings confidence that tuna is not and cannot be, overfished.
For the island and its deserving fishery, it would be a proud moment to bring to market the very-first British, sustainable, pole & line caught canned tuna product.
To date, a total of just over £200k has been self-funded to prove operational viability on St. Helena, and to develop a truly unique artisanal process and product to Technology Readiness Level 8 with The Food Incubator (Leicester). Additionally, our canned tuna has also been tested for nutritional content in a UK food science laboratory with outstanding results for protein, omega-3 and selenium. The artisanal method also means that we have been able to reduce the sodium content by 2/3 that of the average product on the market today.
Where you as prospective consumers come in... To move the project forward to commercialisation and production (anticipated within 12-months), and to secure the private equity investment that enables this, we now need to complete the final validation process for Food Standards and importation, produce a large batch of commercial samples for retailer evaluation and wider consumer testing, and stress test the entire supply-chain. This is our call for your support and to invite you to be a part of the solution that delivers a truly sustainable product with immutable sourcing credentials, to the UK consumer.
So, apart from being the first-ever British caught, British processed and British canned product, what else is positively different?
We are canning premium yellowfin tuna (not skipjack)
We will can from fresh tuna (not frozen or pre-cooked), within 48-hours of catch.
We record more important nutritional data than any of the market leading products.
We have better sustainable sourcing credentials than any other product.
We support NAVILENS and Braille for partially sighted and blind consumers (the first-ever on a canned tuna product).
