Soltuna exports first canned tuna products to US market
By RONALD TOITO’ONA
SOLTUNA has recently made history by producing The Tuna Store’s Ocean Naturals brand of canned tuna for shipment to the United States (U.S) market.
The first shipment of the newly branded Ocean Naturals to the U.S. market from SolTuna was made on October 18th 2017.
Ocean Naturals brand tuna is certified by Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), and was promoted by the Tuna Store – a Tri Marine company.
The Solomon Star was informed of this latest export to the US, when meeting a Tri Marine delegation in Manila Philippines, last week.
“Ocean Naturals products do not contain additives or fillers,” a Tri Marine statement said.
“All Ocean Naturals products are responsibly-caught and fully traceable and have been since the brand was founded,” it added.
“Ocean Naturals was one of the first brand’s that allowed consumers to trace where their tuna was caught, how it was caught, and by whom.”
The export was possible, following the process of converting all SolTuna’s food service items to include MSC certification.
The first products transitioned were the company’s Albacore can and pouch for food service.
That same year, SolTuna also entered an agreement with Kraft-Heinz to be the exclusive distributor of Ocean Naturals in the food service channel.
“As for Kraft Heinz and The Tuna Store, there is a commercial agreement whereby The Tuna Store depends on Kraft Heinz to sell Ocean Naturals and other tuna products to the food service sector of the U.S market.
“Through this arrangement The Tuna Store is able to utilize the warehouses and sales force of Kraft Heinz in serving the food service segment of the U.S. market for shelf stable tuna products,” the Company explained.
Over 70% of SolTuna’s production is exported.
Historically, most of the exports have been to Europe and the regional markets in PNG, Fiji, and Vanuatu.
With the recent increase in the size of the NFD fleet which has allowed SolTuna to increase production, SolTuna has entered the U.S. canned tuna market.
