I’m so cross I feel I have to have a bit of a rant.

I know this is pretty small beer in the greater scheme of things – but why is it that we get such lousy tinned tuna in the UK?

If you buy canned tuna in Spain, you get what it says on the tin. Tuna. Chunky and meaty.

In Britain, unless you buy the really expensive stuff in jars,  it seems you get cat food, or what looks like it at any rate.

Tuna chunks? It’s enough to make a cat laugh.

This mushy mess absorbs far more oil (don’t even get me started on the sludge that’s sold in brine) and by the time you’ve drained it, you end up with half as much as you thought you’d paid for.

Is it because of our still-poor reputation for food in the UK? Do they think we don’t care? Are we being palmed off with the scrapings from the sad carcass of  a once-proud tuna fish, the piscine equivalent of mechanically reclaimed meat?

Because what I got out of the tin bore only a passing resemblance to a tuna steak, processed or not.

I wasn’t going to name and shame, but on second thoughts, here’s the can.

Princes (their missing apostrophe, not mine) are not alone in this heinous crime but theirs is what I happened to have in my store cupboard. It’s not cheap, it’s not supermarket own-brand, it’s supposedly a premium product.

You know, I’m going to contact them and ask for an explanation. I’ll let you know what their response is – assuming I get one.

In the meantime here’s what I made with the stuff – stuffed eggs. I’ve probably put you off eating tinned tuna and I don’t want to insult your intelligence by telling you how to hard boil eggs, but if you’re interested – one small tin of tuna, well drained, preferably one you’ve bought outside the UK; three eggs, hard boiled; a heaped tablespoon of mayo, a squeeze of lemon juice;  half a dozen bottled anchovies (optional) and a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper.

Shell and halve the eggs lengthways, mash the yolks roughly with the mayo and tuna, season with a squeeze of lemon juice and pile the mixture back into the halved eggs. Sprinkle very lightly with cayenne. Halve the anchovy fillets and criss-cross them over the eggs.

Eat and complain.