Hooked on sustainable tinned fish: It’s top quality, it’s shelf stable and has minimal ingredients

Look no further than the canned food section in your supermarket for an eco-friendly and handy meal option. Ciara Shine from Shines Seafood in Donegal explains how tinned fish can be a versatile, delicious and nutritious option

Fri, 18 Apr, 2025 - 02:00

Caroline Hennessy

Tinfluencers on TikTok extoll their virtues. Chefs put them on menus. The New York Times even published a list of their top tin picks for 2025.

While tinned fish has been around for a long time, the culinary world is starting to wake up to the nutritious and sustainable benefits of what’s inside these colourful cans.

Tins are also ideal for those of us who live inland and can’t easily get our hands on fresh fish, but want more piscine pleasure in our diets, be it for health or Good Friday religious reasons.

“It’s top quality, it’s shelf stable, and it has minimal ingredients,” says Ciara Shine, director and marketing manager of the Donegal-based, family-owned Shines Seafood. She adds: “The fish is already cooked, and it makes a healthy, sustainable and quick meal.”

It’s also a versatile option, happy to sit on a shelf in your kitchen until you need to peel back the lid.

Tinned fish is high in protein, which stimulates muscle growth and regulates hormone functions. Of the 20 amino acids in protein, nine are essential — you need to get them from your diet — while the body can make non-essential amino acids.

Fish, along with meat and soya beans, is one of the best sources of all nine essential amino acids.

Proteins that contain the essential amino acid leucine are particularly important for the formation and repair of muscle tissue, regulating blood sugar levels, and promoting healing. Tinned tuna is a rich source of protein and leucine.

Shines Seafood is the only company in the world selling wild Irish albacore tuna in olive oil in tins and jars, which won an Irish Food Writers’ Guild award in 2018.

Tinned sardines also punch above their weight when it comes to protein and leucine, and Shine is particularly proud of their Irish sardines: “We changed our entire range of sardines to Irish sardines, creating a market for these beautiful, nutritional heavyweights. Our sardines are caught off Donegal Bay, supporting a small, inshore fishery.”

Supporting local

Shine’s mackerel is similarly “caught within earshot of the Irish coastline and landed into Killybegs”. It only uses North East Atlantic winter mackerel, due to its high omega 3 content.

The family have been in the seafood industry for nearly 50 years, with Ciara’s father, John, starting on a fishing boat out of Skerries, Co Dublin when he was 12. Her mother, Marianne, worked as a fish buyer in Killybegs, building contacts in Spain, which proved invaluable when the family decided to focus on tuna, first bringing it to market through the SuperValu food academy programme.

John Shine constantly communicates with Irish boats at sea to ensure the best tuna is purchased.

“The season lasts roughly six weeks, from when the albacore tuna appears in the waters, and the Irish boats must apply for a licence each year,” explains his daughter. It is then processed and packed by their Spanish business partners.

Also caught by Irish boats, the sardines and mackerel go to the International Fish Canners factory in Scotland for processing.

Shines Seafood is the only company in the world selling wild Irish albacore tuna in olive oil in tins and jars, which won an Irish Food Writers’ Guild award in 2018.

“Unfortunately, there are no longer fish canneries in Ireland,” says Shine. “But all our fish is certified Irish, and it hasn’t travelled all that far.

“Our products have the lowest mileage of any canned fish products in the supermarkets.”

Shines Seafood is Origin Green-certified with Bord Bia, and they work with Bord Iascaigh Mhara on their fishery improvement projects, which focus on demonstrating Ireland’s commitment to sustainable fisheries.

With standards like these, a tin of Shines sardines, tuna, or mackerel from your local supermarket or independent shop must be priced accordingly.

On its website, a 111g tin of wild Irish tuna in olive oil is €4.99, mackerel is €2.99 for a 125g tin, and sardines are €2.99 for 106g.

Ciara is keenly aware of the higher-than-average price point. “The price can be off-putting,” she acknowledges, “but that’s why we have to work at educating consumers about fish and our products to keep this industry afloat.”

Chef recognition

That good-quality tinned fish can be served like farmhouse cheese or artisan charcuterie is appreciated by the chef-owner of Cork city’s Goldie, Aishling Moore. In her book Whole Catch, she writes: “Canned fish is fresh fish…often processed and preserved within hours of landing, at the peak of its freshness and with little waste.”

She includes a recipe for tonnato — illustrated with a tin of Shines yellowfin tuna — a creamy tuna dressing that’s traditionally served with veal but can, says Moore, be used to dress salad leaves or cold roast chicken.

On a recent trip to St Francis Provisions in Kinsale, tonnato was used to anoint grilled broccoli for a whole new symphony of flavours.

A meal kit from Drop Chef, in collaboration with The Salt Project’s Caomhán De Bri, includes a jar of Shines tuna to make the easiest tuna burgers.

Tins can also be the way to fast-track Good Friday dinner — think sardines on hot buttered toast, or mackerel mashed into a fish cake. Ciara suggests: “Pretending that you’re planning your meal around a piece of chicken and just replace it with fish.

"Have it with mashed potatoes or as a pizza topping, eat it with pasta, put it in sandwiches or wraps, mix it with tomatoes and cucumber and a bit of mayonnaise and keep it in the fridge to accompany anything.

“Or,” she adds, “you can just eat it straight out of the tin with your fork.”