Costco Connection - April 2009

inside costco

Costco’s
Kirkland
Signature
tuna sets
a steady
course
BuyingSmart

Consumer reporter Pat Volchok gives a behind-the-scenes look at Costco products and services. Send your questions to: buyingsmart@ costco.com.

IRIDIO PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO

COSTCO IS KNOWN for swimming against the prevailing tuna current. In 2002, the company determined that the canned tuna on the market had declined in quality over the previous 10 years. Wanting better, Costco formed a select team of buyers who set out to produce

c anned tuna like it used to be—solid, substantial and pure of taste.

The end result was Costco”s own private-label Kirkland Signature^™water-packed, O rthodox Union kosher-certified pareve, line-caught-in-the-wild, 100 percent white alba-c ore canned tuna.

I’m a huge fan of Kirkland Signature albacore tuna and thrilled that Costco contin-u es to provide members with the opportunity to purchase what I consider the best o f thebestin canned tuna. In fact, since its introduction, Kirkland Signaturealbacore i s the only tuna I”ve purchased for my family.

C heck out the Tuna and Basil
Penne recipe in the 2008
In the Kitchen The Costco Way
cookbook, page 166. Go to
Costco.com and click on
“Costco Connection Magazine.”

F ine-tunedtuna

Kirkland Signature canned albacore brings a lot to the table. It”s pure albacore and nothing else, mild in flavor, light in color and firm i n texture.

Albacore is fished in a sustainable mann er by vessels using long lines, not nets. All ships are required to adhere to strict conservation measures and catch quotas. Albacore is also the only species in the U.S. that can legally be sold in canned form as “white meat tuna.”

But not just any part of an albacore will do at Costco. The company strictly specifies that only solid loins are to be used, and they must be cut to fit the can in one large piece.

There’s also a double cleaning during processing to remove all excess skin, fat and bones.

These more costly and time-consuming processes provide members with deliciously pure, rich-tasting, naturally 98 percent fat-free, superior-quality tuna, and each serving has just 70 calories; 1 gram of fat, less than half the fat of pork, beef or chicken; and 180 milligrams of sodium.