There are two broad categories of tuna sold in North America: "light meat" and "white meat" tuna. Unlike chicken or turkey, light meat and white meat do not come from the same animals at all -- rather, these designations refer to entirely different species of tuna. Light meat (sometimes called "chunk light") can be skipjack tuna, yellowfin tuna, and bluefin tuna. On the other hand, US law states that only one tuna species has earned the exclusive top-quality white meat designation, and that's the albacore tuna.

Yet this white meat designation is both a blessing and very misleading! While it guarantees consumers that they are purchasing albacore instead of the other more common tuna species, not all albacore tuna meat is white at all. Depending on age-at-harvest and other factors, albacore meat may be pink, beige, or cream-colored:

Which is "better"? Both of these cans contain "white meat" albacore -- although the tastier, Omega-3 rich troll-caught albacore on the left is, in fact, more pink in color. This is a sign of the best-tasting albacore tuna, even though it isn't as lily-white as the older albacore shown on the right.

Most people do not know this, so there is a tendency to think something is wrong when a can labeled "white meat" contains meat of a different color... when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. It is a fact that slightly darker beige or pinkish albacore meat typically comes from younger, tastier, Omega-3 rich albacore caught near the ocean's surface. Meanwhile, lily-white albacore meat comes from older, drier, less flavorful albacore harvested in much deeper waters.

In short, when you open a can of "white meat tuna" and see off-white or pink tuna inside, there is no reason to panic or think something is wrong. Off-white albacore meat simply means you have managed to obtain the best tasting, Omega-3 rich albacore of all!