price, bonito is preferred by some household consumers in certain 

 areas of the country or because of racial or religious backgrounds. 

 It is reported, for instance, that Italian-American and other Ameri- 

 cans of southern European origin show a preference for bonito. Simi- 

 larly, bonito is reported to be more available on grocers shelves in 

 Pennsylvania than in Illinois. 



Bonito sells best in the institutional trade. Almost without 

 exception, bonito was found to be used widely by hotels, restaurants, 

 and lunchrooms. Although the sales of tuna far exceed that of bonito, 

 the trend of increased imports of bonito into the United States 

 points to the fact that this species is being increasingly accepted 

 on both the retail consumer and the quantity food purveyor levels, available 

 In 194B, the first year for which canned bonito import figure? are/ there 

 was a total of 306,000 pounds of canned bonito and yellowtail (noatly 

 bonito) imported into the United States. In 1949 and 1950 imports of 

 these products rocketed to 8,099,000 and 8,135,000 pounds respective- 

 ly. In 1952, imports of canned bonito and yellowtail (mostly bonito) 

 reached a total of 13,812,000 pounds. Reduced to relative figures, 

 the 1952 imports represent an increase of 70 percent over 1949 and 

 an increase of 4400 percent over 1948. 



Consumer Familiarity With the Various Styles of Canned Tuna Packs 



In general, consumers appear to recognize quite clearly the dif- 

 ferent types and styles of packs of canned tuna. It is doubtful that 

 they are generally aware of any standards with respect to original 

 quality of fish or fill of container. Species identification on 

 labels is not required by law or regulation except for bonito and 

 yellowtail. Few packers identify the other species. At present, prac- 

 tically the only other species named on labels is albacore, which is 

 marketed as white meat. At the present time it appears that consumers 

 are generally aware only that they are buying white or light meat in 

 either a solid pack or as chunk, flakes, or grated packs. The pack 

 designations other than solid are used somewhat interchangeably — 

 chunk and "bite size" are alike, and flakes or grated are similar. 



With the exception of the Boston and New York City metropolitan 

 areas, the predominant demand is for the chunk style packs. Retailers, 

 wholesalers, and brokers in most of the United States report sales in 

 the ratio of 3:2, 2:1, and. 4:1 for chunk style over solid packs in the 

 three best selling brands. In the Boston and New York City areas, 



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