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[womblingfree]

Right, I love tuna.

In Japan there's maguro, chu-toro, otoro, and bincho-otoro. Each one more fatty and each one increasingly expensive!

In the UK tuna is common. Tinned tuna or tuna steaks, which are basically the cheaper cuts that are on the cheaper sushi.

So what happens to all the fatty bits of chu-toro, otoro and bincho-otoro?? Do they get thrown in the bin? Made into pet food?

This is some of the most succulent and heavenly food on earth and so, as tuna is so popular, what the hell happens to all the good bits outside of Japan?

[MrCAPiTUL]

You have to be careful in eating so much tuna, as the mercury levels can be quite high.

[Cshannon]

Most of the good stuff ends up in Japan in the first place. Japanese markets are the highest, so they get most of the best sashimi-grade bluefin tuna (the red color meat). Most of the good otoro comes from bluefin, not the smaller white tunas that are common in North American restaurants (usually white meat skipjack or albacore, also used as canned tuna).
You can find otoro in outher countries but it's often not as good as in Japan, because most of the prime bluefins end up in tsukiji etc.

[womblingfree]

[Cshannon]

While I'm no expert, I believe a lot of the tuna in the Mediterranean is farmed and therefore not as good as the large wild bluefin tuna, which is the really big fish with the prime red color meat. The best sashimi grade toro etc. also comes from the bluefin, which therefore ends up in Japan, which is the major tuna market in the world. Since bluefin tuna is overfished (ie limited supplies) and with the greatest demand and highest market price being in Japan, that's where it most often ends up.
Other smaller tuna species have white color meat, which is often considered lower quality (used for canning etc.) than bluefin maguro. I don't think skipjack or albacore tuna-belly is commonly eaten, though I'm not sure (I doubt it would be anything special anyway cuz the fish is too small - not fatty enough). Yellowfin buri toro is pretty good though.

[womblingfree]

[Cshannon]

Just did a quick search (http://www.american.edu/TED/bluefin.htm):