Imitation Tuna Made To Look Like Real Tuna

Food & Drink
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An article regarding an imitation tuna product being sold as a lookalike for real tuna.

The name is deceptively similar to tuna, the cans are the same as the tuna industry standard round cans and the labelling is similar to Sirena Tuna.

If people want to eat this type of food, why do they need to make it look like real tuna, real steak, real hamburgers, real sausages and the like.

Countries such as India which have a large vegetarian population do not try to disguise their vegetarian meals by calling them, or making them look like, meat dishes.

And then the imitation tuna makers have the temerity to claim that the tuna industry should include animal suffering on their labels.

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I agree@Fred123. It is totally fine to be a vegan, but I also don’t understand the need to make it look like something that you do not eat.

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Perhaps the solution here is for the supermarkets to have a separate section for these types of products. Similar to having a section for different cuisines for Italian, Mexican, Cantonese etc?

Others might suggest that would be discrimination?

How a product is produced, presented and marketed,

We live in a society free to choose. This includes reading the product labelling. We do this routinely to determine product attributes. Salt, sugars, fats, carbs, mystery ingredients, energy content, country of origin etc etc.

The ACCC will need to respond to the actual pack shot and whether their is a brand or product identification issue to resolve?

There is another concern here with describing a Soy based product as “pretend food”, and the comment

Choice members who choose to live Vegan, it’s not a brand or religion, are eating real food. It’s a lifestyle choice. Soy based products are food. They are not a zero nutritional placebo. Why should any of us including a tinned fish brand owner single that choice out?

Equally Vegans go through life having to accept the mass marketing promoting meat based products in socially compelling settings.

I’m not Vegan, but we do eat a number of zero meat meals each week. I personally don’t desire a Tuna substitute, but that is ‘My Choice’. I might need to change one day as our planet is resource constrained.

Perhaps there are only so many ways to present Tofu as Tofu? I guess you could do a Heston and present it as crumbled moon dust tasting like cheese, or Martian river pebbles tasting like beef and with a chewy loose texture. Or you could call it by what it resembles in common language. Grated Parmesan and Meat Balls Vegan Style?

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Mr Wilde was accused of saying “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” :rofl:

I reckon vegans can eat what they want, so long as they don’t pay for these products using bank notes 


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That would be a very good idea, I often pick up Tuna with some thing added ( like hot peppers) by mistake, instead of plain Tuna in olive oil.
Would hate to pick up substitute tuna by mistake.:flushed:

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Real canned tuna is not for me either, as it appears and smells like cat food.

My idea of tuna is either sashimi tuna slices with soy and wasabi or tuna steaks grilled medium rare.

Fortunately we have a tuna fishing fleet company based in Cairns who also operate a small retail shop selling fresh pelagic seafood at very reasonable prices.

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 the source of the imitation tuna? I reckon it would be ‘a bit chewy’ 
 :rofl:

image

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As a vegetarian myself (for almost 20 years) I still like to have something with a “meaty” texture to accompany my vegetables. I love the fake meat. Imitation meat is nothing new, it’s been around in China for 1000 years. A meaty hamburger, schnitzel or a sausage doesn’t look like the animal it comes from, so it doesn’t matter if that’s made of soy or lentils or whatever :slight_smile: The labelling is another matter, but I don’t agree with how extreme it’s become in France where people aren’t actually allowed to say “soy sausage” or “vegan cheese” when the product clearly isn’t meat. https://www.1843magazine.com/food-drink/china-the-birthplace-of-fake-meat

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Macca’s DE has spoken.

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 makes sense, they’ve been ‘foodless’ burgers for years !!

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It says the non-meat derived patty is made especially for Macca’s by Nestle.

Can we expect rich chocolate like undertones with the great new taste sensation?

More to come if we read here?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-02/nestle-joins-race-against-burger-king-to-serve-meatless-patties

P.S.
“No food additives were harmed in the making of this promotion!”

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“Equally Vegans go through life having to accept the mass marketing promoting meat based products in socially compelling settings.”

Poor darlings. How they must suffer!

I have been a vegetarian for almost 50 years (long before it was socially expected) do you seriously think that I have spent half a century bemoaning the fact that there used to be butcher shops complete with sawdust on the floor and dead animals hanging in the window, or that I have to navigate through supermarkets dodging the meat and fish counters, backing away from the dairy section, avoiding the shelves of tinned meats, fish and fowl and running past the freezer section in case I am assaulted by frozen dinners and ice cream?

Seriously these delicate little flowers need to get over themselves. They fail to see the irony in making manufactured foods look, smell and taste like the ‘real thing’. And all the while whinging that other people actually grow, farm, buy and enjoy those things.

And no. I don’t buy the manufactured ‘meat’ products like for example the sausages, mince etc that have been around for decades. There is no need when there is a plethora of suitable plants available.

Vegetarians and vegans do not have to shop for foods in supermarkets if they are so offended, so they can take their sensitive natures elsewhere.

And I would really like to know why they even want these manufactured products that are a reminder of the very foods they profess to eschew!

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I really don’t understand that either!
I’ve been thinking that maybe it is aimed at ‘meat eaters’ to get them to try substitutes, and keep on including those in their diet.
There may come a time when we will have to do that, until then I enjoy a little meat, cheese, legumes and vegetable as they are, not disguised as some other food:
I read that beetroot is used to counterfeit the redness of blood in substitute hamburgers, that’s clearly aimed at red (undercooked) meat eaters!

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Would that also exclude the wonderful Japanese delight ‘natto’?

Totally good for you. But in one classic form resembling and smelling like a vegetable that has long gone off and been in the compost bin for a few days?

Is it easier to suggest we should remain open for everyone to enjoy food presented in what ever form you enjoy? Should deception and fakery in presentation be excluded?

It would be great to continue the discussion on that theme alone. It might also invite other comparisons. Should any one wear makeup, or body shape altering under garments or even clothing designed to hide disguise or change the human form? Most of us seem to accept a degree of fashion illusion or deception.

Perhaps there is a more important topic on how the market manipulates our self perception? Others might suggest it is not relevant and self esteem comes from within, not externally.

So is the value in food less to do with appearance, and more to do with the inherent value? What we do to present or encourage good eating habits might also be equally important. If that takes presenting/disguising soy and other plant based products as a fish or a steak, it would seem worth the outcome.

Many of us have been doing it to our young children for years. Hiding vegetables in mash, pretending KFC contains real chicken, etc. It seems to be widely accepted!

P.S.
I’m still not sure about wearing make up. I do make an exception for SPF 50+ and a splash of ‘Deet’ my favourite fragrance!

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I would strongly object to be treated like a child and have meat substitutes presented as meat. Luckily, as an adult I have freedom of choice to say: No, thank you.

'Most of us accept a degree of fashion illusion or deception '


The real comparison between humans wearing make-up etc., would be to present animals dressed and made-up etc., like human beings.

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The principle that we practice deception in many different ways on a daily basis, for advantage, whimsically, for positive/negative deception, or convenience is what I was hoping to communicate.

There is a broad range of views as to when and to what extent individuality and preference is acceptable? Typically we accept difference even if we are not in full agreement.

Coke Zero and Coke Classic to some is the same type of product, but not so for others. One is a poor imitation that tastes not quite right. Non sugar based drink vs a sugar based product. Cola is actually the product and Coke part of the brand name. There is no longer any opiate derived content in either, yet we accept the labelling, fake as it is!

Vegetarian Tuna Steaks are exactly what the description says.

For me it is simply important the product is consistently and reliably identified. Non meat eaters have a choice to avoid both Tuna products. I’m happy to see both available and to be able to choose either based on need and quality! :wink:

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@mark_m, I fail to see the comparison between a sugar based drink and a non-sugar based drink, and vegetarian food dressed up as ‘meat’
based food

But I totally agree with: ‘We accept differences even if we are not in agreement’
:blush:

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Whilst shopping at Coles yesterday, I tried to find Tuno as Coles had it on their website.

It was not in the canned fish section or the pet food section but in the health food section.

I bought a can so I could read the label at home as I did not have a magnifying glass with me.

It is primarily made of soy protein, and has only around one third the energy and a little over half the protein of the sardines I also bought and it has 4.4gm per 100gm of carbohydrate whereas the sardines have none.

I asked our puppy if he wanted to eat it but I won’t post his reply here so I will return it to Coles for a refund.

The sardines I referred to above are Sole Mare processed in Latvia. They are packed in a round can with a thin plastic cover with a pull tab.

Small fish all in one piece and no fiddling around trying to get them out of the corners of a traditional rectangular can, and no broken pull tabs or cut fingers from razor sharp metal lids. Brilliant idea.

I had a can for breakfast and they were the nicest sardines I have ever tasted.

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I bought 12 tins of Portugese Style Sole Mare sardines from Woollies at half price and ate one yesterday morning.

In stark contrast to the ones I posted about above, these were the worst sardines I have ever seen or tasted.

Took the other 11 back to Woollies and bought King Oscar sardines.