StarKist tuna’s mercury level depends entirely on which product you’re buying. StarKist Chunk Light tuna, made from skipjack, averages about 0.118 parts per million (ppm) of mercury and is considered a low-mercury option. StarKist Solid White Albacore averages roughly 0.407 ppm, about three and a half times higher. That difference comes down to the species of fish in the can, not the brand itself.
Why Albacore and Light Tuna Are So Different
Canned “white” tuna is albacore, a larger, longer-lived species that accumulates more mercury over its lifetime. Canned “light” or “chunk light” tuna is typically skipjack, a smaller fish that lives fewer years and sits lower on the food chain. Mercury builds up as bigger fish eat smaller ones, so species size is the single biggest factor in how much mercury ends up in your can.
At least 89% of the mercury in canned tuna is methylmercury, the form your body absorbs most readily and the form that poses the greatest health risk. This is true regardless of brand.
How StarKist Compares to Other Brands
Consumer Reports tested 30 cans across five major brands (StarKist, Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea, Safe Catch, and Wild Planet), pulling samples from different production lots. Among light tuna products, mercury was low across the board, and the differences between brands were very small. StarKist Chunk Light performed comparably to competitors, including Safe Catch, which markets itself as the “lowest mercury of any brand.”
For albacore, the picture was less reassuring across all brands. Consumer Reports found that one in five cans of tuna tested had mercury levels high enough to exceed the FDA’s consumption recommendations. Three albacore samples were so high they shouldn’t have been eaten at all: two from Chicken of the Sea and one from StarKist. Safe Catch’s albacore wasn’t meaningfully different from other brands’ albacore, and Bumble Bee actually tested lower in that category.
The takeaway: paying a premium for a “low-mercury” brand doesn’t guarantee much. Safe Catch’s albacore costs around $5 per can compared to under $3 for StarKist, but mercury levels were similar. For light tuna, the price gap is even harder to justify, since all brands tested low.
Mercury Varies From Can to Can
One important finding from the Consumer Reports testing is that mercury content is inconsistent even within the same product line. Each can contains fish from different catches, different waters, and potentially different-sized individuals within the same species. You can eat one can of StarKist albacore and get a moderate reading, then open another from a different lot and get a spike. StarKist and other major brands say they monitor mercury and meet FDA standards, but those standards allow a wide range.
How Much StarKist Tuna Is Safe Per Week
The FDA places canned light tuna (including StarKist Chunk Light) in its “Best Choices” category, meaning most adults can safely eat two to three 4-ounce servings per week. That works out to 8 to 12 ounces.
Albacore tuna, including StarKist Solid White, falls into the “Good Choices” category. The recommendation drops to one 4-ounce serving per week, and if you eat that serving, you should skip all other fish for the rest of the week.
For children, serving sizes scale with age: about 1 ounce for toddlers ages 1 to 3, 2 ounces for ages 4 to 7, and 3 ounces for ages 8 to 10. Children should stick to two servings per week from the “Best Choices” list, which means light tuna is the better option for kids.
Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
The FDA is most specific about tuna for people who are pregnant, might become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. Canned light tuna is fine at two to three servings per week during pregnancy. Albacore tuna is limited to one serving per week with no other fish consumed that week. The concern is methylmercury’s effect on fetal brain development, where even modest exposure over time can cause harm. If you’re in this group and eating StarKist regularly, choosing Chunk Light over Solid White is the simplest way to reduce your exposure without giving up tuna.
Choosing the Lower-Mercury Option
If you like StarKist and want to keep eating it, the most effective thing you can do is switch from albacore to chunk light. That single change cuts your average mercury exposure by roughly two-thirds. It also happens to be the cheaper product.
Rotating tuna with other low-mercury fish like salmon, sardines, or pollock further reduces your cumulative exposure while keeping the nutritional benefits of seafood. For people who eat tuna only occasionally, even albacore is unlikely to push mercury intake into a concerning range. The risk rises with frequent, repeated consumption over weeks and months.