Oregon State university Food Innovation Center
2/28/25
I have been working with the Oregon Farm To School program. Getting my tuna into the public school system. It is eligible for the Farm To School Program which is a Federally funded program that gives public schools funding for the purchase of in state processed foods. Seafood is eligible and since Fishpatrick’s albacore are processed in Charleston Oregon, the resulting product is eligible. The Eugene 4J school district in Lane County Oregon and the Roseburg, Riddle Glide and Reedsport School Districts in Douglas County Oregon all use my tuna in their kitchens. The Four Pound Institutional Foil Pouch is their go to choice. Very versatile and has a 3 year from production “Best By” date. An excellent choice for the school cafeterias.
I am listed in the Farm To School Directory as a Producer of Seafood.
Last week Sarah Masoni coordinated a plan with me to create some recipe cards that could be handed out to schools as ideas for the use of Fishpatrick’s Oregon Albacore Tuna. We chose to use our own family recipes that we have created in our home for our own use and for our families enjoyment. I explained in paragraph form what our ways of handling these canned and pouched Oregon albacore are, and the list of ingredients complete with detailed instructions. Sarah plugged this into an AI program and the suggested amounts of each ingredient when using a 4 pound pouch of tuna was given. Sarah invited me to attend in person while the creations would be made. I would need to get to Portland Oregon and go to the Oregon State University Food Innovation Center. And so I did. Immediately after arriving , I jumped in and we all began. I had never opened one of these for use before! It immediately became evident that we are to mix the juice back into the loins and use the entire contents of the pouch to get 4 pounds correctly and to have the tuna in its most amazingly moist and delicious form. Together with Jordan, Jason and Taylor we set up and made our creations.
We made albacore tuna enchiladas, albacore tuna casserole regular, a gluten free albacore tuna casserole, albacore tuna sandwiches and a crowd favorite albacore tuna tortilla pizza. Working with these professionals in such an amazing kitchen was rewarding. The results were fantastic. It really felt great expressing our family favorites to them and to the rest of the employees who had lunch with us in the adjacent dining room after gathering plates full of their choices. The reports from them were very positive. In time I will learn how to show you the photos of these tasty Oregon albacore dishes. I will be explaining the recipes in a way that you may duplicate in your own kitchens. I look forward to seeing the finalized recipe cards.