10 Cheap Canned Seafood Products You Should Avoid Buying At All Costs

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Canned fish is soaring in popularity. In fact, according to Fortune Business Insights, in 2025, the global canned seafood market was valued at just over $57.6 billion, and by 2034, it could be approaching $100 billion. There are a few key reasons for this; canned fish is incredibly convenient, it's quick to prepare, and it's a good source of protein (we are, after all, in the middle of protein mania). But like everything, canned fish isn't perfect. 

Aside from the clear sustainability challenges associated with most seafood products, canned fish can come with some pretty big cons. Often, the cheaper products on the market don't deliver in terms of taste and texture. This is a big issue, because when a fish product is bad, it can make you feel nauseous and, quite frankly, put you off buying anything similar for life. To help you make better canned seafood choices, we've compiled a list of cheap products that might be best avoided at all costs. We compiled this list with the help of several reviews, most of which were sourced from Reddit.

According to Trader Joe's, each tin of its wild caught boneless grilled sardines in olive oil is packed with flavorful sardines caught from the Tunisian coast. It boasts that the sardines, which are grill-marked, can be eaten as a snack or used to liven up pizzas or salads. But not everyone agrees.

YouTuber Matthew Carlson who uploads canned fish reviews to his channel Canned Fish Files, scored the Trader Joe's grilled sardines with a measly one out of five. He noted that while they were edible and he appreciated the skin-on texture, he found the grilling had squashed the sardines and left them with a slightly unpleasant, bitter taste. When we reviewed the Trader Joe's grilled sardines, we agreed that they were not worth a second purchase. Like Carlson, our reviewers didn't like the squashed texture or the flavor from the grilling. In fact, they actually speculated whether the sardines had spoiled. 

Many Redditors also believe these sardines are best avoided. While some were far more impressed than us or Carlson, plenty noted that they didn't enjoy the mushy texture and found the overall flavor to be very disappointing.

Starkist chunk light tuna is not a canned fish you buy if you like a strong flavor. The product is known for its mild taste, which is supposed to make it a good fit for virtually any dish. But this canned tuna has some serious enemies.

One Reddit user said they used the canned tuna to make a sandwich, but even though the expiry date was well in the future, they found the flavor to be pretty off-putting. Several users agreed, noting that they had turned their backs on all of Starkist's canned fish products due to poor quality. In 2022, we ranked 13 canned fish brands and we placed Starkist last for that very reason. Our reviewer also noted that the brand fails to offer any good quality oil-packed tuna or salmon options (side note, we also ranked Starkist salmon pretty poorly in our taste test in 2023).

It gets worse: Some social media users say consuming Starkist tuna might also be dangerous. Several have reported finding chunks of bones in their canned Starkist tuna. This can happen from time to time (tuna are animals with bones, after all), but it is a serious choking hazard. Multiple people said that after finding the bone in their tuna, all they got from Starkist was a letter of apology and a few coupons for more tuna cans (which, funnily enough, they didn't particularly fancy eating). 

There's no doubt that Chicken of the Sea has its fans. Many reviewers have praised the taste and texture of the brand's sardines, for example. However, plenty of customers out there have not been impressed by Chicken of the Sea's sardines in various sauces. This isn't a big surprise to us — in our review of canned fish brands, we ranked Chicken of the Sea in second to last place.

One Redditor who tried the brand's wild-caught sardines in lemon sauce, for example, said that the fish lacked any real flavor beyond the lemon and that they had to cover them in chimichurri to get any flavor. Other commenters who had tried Chicken of the Sea's sardines in sauces agreed that they didn't think they were up to much. In fact, one said that they found the flavor of the Chicken of the Sea sardines in mustard sauce to be so unappealing, they had to throw out the rest of the can.

Another Reddit user who tried both the sardines in mustard sauce and the sardines in Louisiana Hot Sauce said they found both flavors to have a watery texture and an unpleasant, bitter taste. In addition, one Redditor said that the inconsistency with the products was a huge problem. They noted that while they had bought the hot sauce-covered sardines a few times and enjoyed them, on the third (and final) time, they had to throw them away because they tasted so bad.

Goya is probably best-known for its canned beans. That makes sense, given the sheer amount of bean variety it offers (we're talking everything from black beans to green pigeon peas and refried beans). But the brand also offers a small range of canned fish products, including three varieties of sardines. If you're tempted to give them a try, there are plenty of rave reviews out there about these sardines. But, that said, some of the bad ones forced us to stop and evaluate whether Goya's canned seafood might actually be best avoided.

One Redditor said that the Goya premium sardines in spicy oil were some of the worst sardines they had ever eaten, for example. They noted that the fish tasted simultaneously bland and metallic, and the only way they could actually enjoy them was by slathering them in lemon and hot sauce. In the replies, people sympathized, with one person claiming that the only thing they ever turned to Goya for was coconut water. Another agreed that the sardines and their spicy oil had a distinct metallic taste. A different Redditor who reviewed the premium sardines in spicy oil came to a similar conclusion, noting that they were not enjoyable and left them with an unpleasant aftertaste.

Goya's sardines, in general, seem to be quite disliked by social media users. Several people on a separate Reddit thread said they would not recommend the brand to anyone else for any of its canned sardine products.

Like Starkist, Bumble Bee tuna has also gotten into trouble over people finding bones in its tuna. Back in 2009, one man even brought a $100,000 lawsuit against the company, after he nearly choked to death on a piece of bone in one of the brand's canned tuna products. But in more recent years, people seem to be more fussed about the actual taste and quality of the brand's products.

On Reddit, many people have lumped Bumble Bee's chunk light tuna in with that from Bumble Bee or Starkist, noting that they all seem to be low quality canned tuna options with a poor taste and texture. Another user on the platform said that they didn't enjoy the brand's solid white albacore because it smelt bad and had a mushy texture. In fact, they claimed that it looked more like cat food than tuna. 

But there's another potential major reason to avoid Bumble Bee. In November 2025, following allegations that surfaced in the previous spring, several Indonesian fishers proceeded with a lawsuit against Bumble Bee over forced labor.

California-based Beach Cliff, a subsidiary of Bumble Bee Foods, claims to offer top quality flavor for a budget-friendly price, but many believe it doesn't actually deliver on that promise. In fact, one Redditor actually claimed that the brand's sardines in mustard sauce looked like "they had been spit out of a tube." They said that while they still managed to eat them with the help of eggs and crackers, they weren't planning on buying a tin of the brand's sardines ever again. 

It seems like Beach Cliff's sardines is one of those products that inspires creative insults. On the same Reddit thread, another user noted that its canned fish tasted like "cotton soaked in cod liver oil that was two hours away from being rancid." So far, it doesn't sound that appetizing. But unfortunately for Beach Cliff, it doesn't seem to get better. On a separate Reddit thread, one person compared Beach Cliff sardines to diarrhea, while another said that the texture of them was usually mushy while the flavor was overwhelmingly fishy.

Other sardine comparisons from former Beach Cliff customers include rubber, wilted lettuce, and hot garbage. Do with that what you will.

Sorry, we're not quite done with Beach Cliff. According to several customers, many of the brand's fish steaks, which are made from herring, are equally as disappointing as its sardines.

While the brand's fish steaks served in soybean oil with hot green chiles seemed to have more fans, most agreed that other flavors, like its fish steaks served in Louisiana Hot Sauce and its fish steaks served in mustard sauce were not worth the money. One user found the fish steaks to be so offputting, they actually started speculating on how the company still exists (they noted that being cheap was simply not a good enough reason).

One Redditor said that while they didn't mind the Beach Cliff sardines, they struggled with the fish steaks. Their main gripe was how bony each steak was, noting that this was a serious obstacle if you bought them with plans to mix them into another dish.

Aldi offers several fishy products in its private-label Northern Catch range. There's classic chunk light tuna, pink salmon, and even smoked oysters, for example, but one of the products that people don't seem to be hugely impressed with is the sardines in mustard sauce. And from the look of this list so far, this seems to be a problem that spans several brands.

For many customers, the key issue with Aldi's mustard sardines is how inconsistent they are. In fact, several Redditors noted that the product could be up and down in terms of quality, meaning you're never really sure what you're going to get. Others claimed that the sardines had a very mushy texture, and were not particularly pleasant in terms of overall flavor. Generally, people seem to agree that if you want saucy sardines from Aldi, you're better off going for the Northern Catch sardines in hot sauce instead.

King Oscar claims to offer premium canned seafood for fairly reasonable prices. And it does indeed offer some of the cheapest canned anchovies on the market, at just $2.70 a tin (based on Walmart's pricing at the time of writing). This product does certainly have its fans, but the good reviews aren't universal.

One former customer said on Reddit that they opened a tin of King Oyster anchovies and were greeted with a strong, unpleasant smell that was nothing like any other anchovies they'd sniffed before. It wasn't just bad luck: Other people said they had a similar experience with the brand, which had put them off its canned anchovies for life. In fact, one person said the smell was so bad, it took over the entire kitchen and made them feel physically sick. Aside from the smell, people have other issues with King Oscar. One former customer said they wouldn't recommend King Oscar's anchovies because of the sheer amount of bones in each tin.

Fresh lobster is one of the most expensive types of seafood you can buy, which is why many budget-conscious shoppers often look for a canned version if they want to indulge in the shellfish. But, if that's you, several customers say that Alaska Smokehouse lobster spread is best avoided. 

The spread isn't pure lobster; it's actually made with a mix of both Atlantic lobster and Alaskan pink salmon. But, according to several customers, the issue with this is that the salmon flavor overpowers the lobster. In fact, some people who had bought the product from Walmart said they couldn't taste any lobster at all, and instead said it tasted more like a fish-based cat food. Several Reddit users agreed that there was barely any trace of lobster flavor in the spread. Some said they had tried to improve the flavor by pairing it with cream cheese, but to no avail.