Check your tuna before you eat it

Sounds like Charlie the Tuna finally made the cut, just not at StarKist.

You may have to be my age to remember Charlie the Tuna, the StarKist TV pitchfish who for some reason hoped to be ripped from his aquatic environment, gutted, skinned, diced, canned and eaten by humans who know StarKist is top-shelf.

Charlie came on regularly, trying to get himself killed, rendered and sold in grocery stores nationwide, but sadly the ad’s voice-over at the end said “Sorry, Charlie,” rejecting him as failing StarKist standards.

Maybe Charlie was good enough for “Chicken of the Sea,” which along with Bumble Bee chunk light tuna is under recall.

According to the Georgia Department of Agriculture, the tuna’s being recalled because of “deviations thature, the tuna’s being recalled because of “deviations that occurred as part of the commercial sterilization process … which could result in contamination by spoilage organisms or pathogens.”

So if you bought some Bumble Bee or Chicken of the Sea and don’t want to eat any spoilage organisms or pathogens, you’d better check the label. Especially if you thought you were buying chicken.

This troubles me, because I love a good tuna salad, with boiled egg and onion and real mayonnaise like Duke’s or Sauer’s that is not “fat free,” in a sandwich of toasted wheat bread, sliced cheese, tomato and lettuce.

Add a side of pasta salad and a sweet tea, and the last thing I need along with all those calories are “spoilage organisms or pathogens,” so I would definitely inspect any canned tuna before I used it.

The Department of Agriculture says Bumble Bee Foods is recalling 31,579 cases of canned tuna bearing a code starting with “T” (like TOA2BSCAFB). You can see images at www.bumblebee.com/recall-march-2016.

Chicken of the Sea is recalling 2,745 cases, because despite what their labels say, they don’t contain chicken.

I never get tired of that stupid joke.

Chicken of the Sea commercials used to have a little jingle: “Ask any mermaid you happen to see, ‘What’s the best tuna?’”

“Chicken of the Sea,” went the sea shanty. Today that old ad’s on YouTube, but apparently its conclusion’s no longer true, in every case, or at least the cases under recall.

Should a pantry raid reveal you have recalled tuna, the agriculture department recommends you put it in “a closed plastic bag in a sealed trash can, so other people and animals cannot eat it.”

As if putting it in a trash can keeps people from eating it.

Consumers proving purchase can get refunds where they bought it. They can call Bumblebee at 1-888-820-1947 and Chicken of the Sea at 1-866-600-2681.

So, if like me you’re likely to buy a case, boil some eggs, chop some onions, toast some bread and slather some mayonnaise, check your tuna’s can for spoilage organisms or pathogens, lest those kill you faster than the fat and calories.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 7:56 AM with the headline "Check your tuna before you eat it."