StarKist

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StarKist Tuna is a brand of tuna produced by StarKist Co., an American company formerly based in Pittsburgh 's North Shore ^[1] that is now wholly owned by Dongwon Industries of South Korea . It was purchased by Dongwon from the American food manufacturer Del Monte Foods on June 24, 2008, for slightly more than $300 million. ^[2] In 2021, the headquarters were moved to Reston, Virginia .

History [ edit ]

StarKist was founded in 1917 in San Pedro, California ^[3] (known historically as "Fish Harbor") ^[4] as the French Sardine Company of California, by Martin J. Bogdanovich (an immigrant from Croatia ) and several partners. Bogdanovich is known for his innovations related to refrigeration of the seafood product with crushed ice. ^[5] They first marketed tuna under the Starkist name in 1942. Bogdanovich died in 1944 and his son Joseph (1912?2005) ^[6] took over the business. The company changed its name to Starkist Foods in 1953; at the time, its facility on Terminal Island was the largest tuna processing facility in the world.

Since 1961 its mascot has been Charlie the Tuna , an anthropomorphic cartoon tuna . Commercials usually featured the phrase "Sorry, Charlie". StarKist was acquired by the H.J. Heinz Company in 1963.

In 1984, the Terminal Island cannery operations were shut down. ^[7] In 1988, Heinz spun off its pet food brands (including its flagship 9Lives cat food brand, which was introduced as a tuna-based cat food in 1959) into a separate division (Joseph Bogdanovich became a Heinz vice-chairman). ^{[5] [8]} Heinz sold both divisions to Del Monte in 2002. ^[9]

In August 2015, StarKist settled a class-action lawsuit claiming that the company was guilty of deliberately "under-filling" five-ounce cans of tuna. ^[10] Earlier that same month, StarKist was sued, accused of colluding with Bumble Bee Foods and Chicken of the Sea to fix prices. ^[1]

On October 18, 2018, StarKist agreed to plead guilty to a felony price fixing charge as part of a broad collusion investigation of the canned tuna industry by the United States Department of Justice . ^[11] On September 11, 2019, StarKist was fined $100 million, the maximum statutory fine. ^[12]

In September 2019, the plaintiffs who had signed up for the class-action lawsuit that was "settled" in August 2015 were finally paid their share of the settlement. Plaintiffs who signed up for the $50 in tuna certificates received a coupon good for $5.03 provided they buy at least three Starkist products totaling more than that amount. Plaintiffs who signed up for the $25 cash received a PayPal payment of $2.38 representing their share of the settlement after the law firm's costs had been deducted.

StarKist moved its corporate headquarters to Reston, Virginia in 2022. ^[13]

See also [ edit ]

• Tunagate

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• Official site
• Image of workers picketing the StarKist cannery on Terminal Island, California,1984. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library , University of California, Los Angeles .