Read: Irish Examiner | Think tins for a sustainable fish Friday
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 so can’t easily get our hands on fresh fish and want more piscine pleasure in our diets, be it for health or for 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 and run Shines Seafood, while talking about the advantages of tinned fish. “The fish is already cooked, and it makes a healthy, sustainable and quick meal.” It’s a versatile option as well, happy to sit on a shelf in your kitchen until you need to peel back that lid.
It’s also a nutritious choice. Tinned fish is high in protein, which stimulates the growth of muscles 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 soybeans, are some of the best sources of all nine essential amino acids.
Proteins that contain the essential amino acid leucine are of particular importance for the formation and repair of muscle tissue, regulating blood sugar levels and promoting healing. One of the richest sources of both protein and leucine is tinned tuna and Shines Seafood produces the best in the country. They are the only company in the world that sells wild Irish albacore tuna in olive oil in both tins and jars, a product that was awarded an Irish Food Writers’ Guild Food Award in 2018.
John, Marianne and Ciara Shine, Shines Seafood, pictured at the IFWG Awards 2020. Photographer – Paul Sherwood
Tinned sardines also punch above their weight when it comes to both 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.” Their mackerel – they only use North East Atlantic winter mackerel due to its high omega 3 content – is similarly “caught within earshot of the Irish coastline and landed into Killybegs.”
The family have been in the seafood industry for nearly 50 years, with Shine’s father, John, starting on a fishing boat out of Skerries, Co Dublin when he was 12 years old. Her mother, Marianne, worked as a fish buyer in Killybegs, developing contacts in Spain. This proved invaluable when the family decided to focus on tuna, initially bringing it to market through the SuperValu Food Academy Programme. John Shine is in constant communication with Irish boats when they are 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 license 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 are processed in the International Fish Canners factory in Scotland. “Unfortunately there are no fish canneries in Ireland any more,” 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.”
“Sustainability is at the core of our business,” says Shine, “and maintaining the sustainability of the Irish fishing industry as a whole. It’s about ensuring that the people catching the fish and the people processing the fish get a fair wage, from the top to the bottom of that supply chain.” Shines Seafood is Origin Green-certified with Bord Bia and works with Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) on their Fishery Improvement Projects, which focus on demonstrating Ireland’s commitment to sustainable fisheries.
With standards like these, a tin of Shines’ tuna, sardines or mackerel from your local supermarket or independent food shop must be priced accordingly. On their website, 111g tins of wild Irish tuna in olive oil are €4.99, mackerel is €2.99 for a 125g tin and sardines are €2.99 for 106g. Shine 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.”
That good quality tinned fish can be appreciated and served like farmhouse cheese or artisan charcuterie is something that is appreciated by the chef-owner of Cork city’s Goldie and Irish Examiner columnist Aishling Moore. In her book Whole Catch (Blasta Books) 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’ yellowfish tuna – a creamy tuna-mayonnaise dressing which is 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 restaurant 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 fishcake. Shine 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.”
Shines Seafood tins and jars are available online at shinesseafood.ie, in independent food shops, SuperValus, Dunnes Stores and selected Tescos.
