January 8, 2014 — The world’s largest tuna companies are making a splash in Washington with a fight over rules that keep some catches out of school lunches.
StarKist and Tri Marine are clashing with Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea over the Agriculture Department’s strict Buy American standards for where tuna is cleaned, canned and shipped.
Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea lose under the rules. Both companies have facilities that process tuna in the United States, but their product is also cleaned overseas. Under the USDA standards, their tuna cannot be served in schools, denying them access to a lucrative market.
StarKist, on the other hand, has a major operation in the U.S. territory of American Samoa. Tri Marine is building up a new facility in the territory as well.
The two factions are sparring over language in the House agricultural appropriations bill that would require the USDA to issue a report on how the department could revise its Buy American standards, including “the option for less than 100 percent of the value of the tuna product be United States produced.”
The language could be slipped into the omnibus spending bill that lawmakers aim to release sometimes this week. If it becomes law, that report could clear the way for Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea to begin selling to schools.
Millions of dollars in government sales are at stake, including for American Samoa, where tuna is a linchpin of the island economy.
Read the full story at The Hill