Tri Marine International will begin canning skipjack tuna under Costco’s signature brand Kirkland with Chicken of the Sea brand lightmeat tuna being dropped by the retailing giant.

The product will be in the stores next week according to sources speaking to Undercurrent News. 

According to these same sources, the rationale of the switch from Costco is Tri Marine can offer a fully integrated supply chain with its own fleets and own plants.

The initial production of the range is being done in Thailand, with Chotiwat Manufacturing Company (CMC) the processor with TriMarine, planning to move processing to its Samoa Tuna Processors (STP) plant in American Samoa once the canning section of the plant opens, which is scheduled for the end of the year.

Undercurrent News says Costco is making several changes with the Tri Marine-supplied product, in addition to the switch of supplier and move to its own brand.

The product will not contain any vegetable broth and will be caught by vessels fishing on free schools of tuna, not using fish aggregation devices (FADs), sources said. It will use skipjack specifically and not lightmeat, which can be composed of a range of different species of tuna.

It will be sold in a seven-ounce can, which is the same as the Chicken of the Sea product.

Canned tuna in the US, with its three big brands of Bumble Bee, Starkist and Chicken of the Sea, is highly competitive and focused on price. The move from Costco could be a “game changer” for the US tuna sector, because a large retailer is putting out a private label product that is emphasizing traceability and quality, several tuna sector sources told Undercurrent.

Both Costco and Tri Marine declined to comment to Undercurrent News.