Chicken of the Sea history

The “Chicken of the Sea” brand name came about in 1930, when the company’s fishermen thought to compare tuna’s mild flavor and color to that of America’s favorite versatile poultry (of the land!).

1952 - Meet the MermaidGrace Lee Whitney, who played Yeoman Janice Rand on the original Star Trek series, was the inspiration for our spirited icon.

In 1963, the company was sold to Missouri-based Ralston Purina, known primarily as a producer of processed foods, pet food, and livestock and poultry feeds.

Ralston Purina built a cannery in San Diego, California, in 1975, following the closing of a plant in Los Angeles County.

By 1976, the company was operating canneries in San Diego and Terminal Island, California, American Samoa (in the South Pacific), and Ponce, Puerto Rico.

In 1984, Ralston Purina gutted Van Camp's San Diego facilities, closing the cannery facility and moving it to the distant shores of American Samoa, in order to access the more inexpensive labor pool, and also to be closer to one of the richest fishing grounds in the world.

In 1988, a group of private investors from Indonesia, called P. T. Mantrust Corporation, purchased Van Camp's from Ralston Purina in a highly leveraged transaction.

In April of 1990, the public was made aware of the fact that 100,000 dolphins were killed each year from tuna fishing using purse-seine methods, where a large net is cast around tuna and then drawn closed, similar to how your close a drawstring purse.

Meanwhile, total annual revenue for Van Camp in 1996 reached $440 million.