crustaceans sometimes referred to as chicken of the sea see shrimp . this article includes a list of references but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . june 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message chicken of the sea a portion of chicken of the sea s current logo type subsidiary genre seafood headquarters san diego california usa services van camp s beanee weenee owner thai union group website www.chickenofthesea.com chicken of the sea is a provider of packaged seafood formerly american that is currently owned by the thai union group located in samutsakorn thailand . the brand provides tuna salmon clams crab shrimp mackerel oysters kipper snacks and sardines in cans pouches and cups under the brand names chicken of the sea van camps genova pacific pearl and ace of diamonds . 1 contents 1 company 2 product name 3 bibliography 4 references 5 external links company edit as a subsidiary its divisional headquarters are based in san diego california . the company markets a variety of other seafood items under the chicken of the sea brand name including tuna salmon clam crab shrimp oysters mackerel kipper snacks and sardines . the original company was founded in 1914 when frank van camp and his son bought the california tuna canning company and changed the name to the van camp seafood company . the phrase chicken of the sea first devised as a way to describe the taste was so successful that soon it also became the company name . in 1963 van camp seafood company was purchased by ralston purina . in 1988 ralston sold its van camp division to an indonesian corporation p.t. mantrust which had financial problems and the primary creditor prudential life insurance company became the majority owner . in 1997 the company was purchased by the investment group tri union seafoods llc made up of three partners thai union international inc. a thai conglomerate based in bangkok and the then largest tuna packer in asia and second largest in the world edmund a. gann american owner of caribbean marine service co. inc. a tuna fishing fleet tri marine international inc. a global trading company formed in singapore in 1972 dealing in tuna and tuna products headed by renato curto president and majority shareholder . the new owners changed the name of van camp seafood company to chicken of the sea international . in 2000 tri marine international inc and edmund a. gann sold their 50 percent interest in chicken of the sea to thai union international inc. leaving thai union the sole owner of the company . chicken of the sea international and tri union international llc merged into one company still called chicken of the sea international . with the 2003 acquisition of empress international an importer of frozen shrimp and other shellfish chicken of the sea s total annual sales climbed to 600 million . in 2006 thai union formed a new division chicken of the sea frozen foods to focus on sales of premium quality fresh and frozen seafood products . this division has grown quickly helping to further grow chicken of the sea s brand awareness and distribution in the food service and retail industries . in august 2015 chicken of the sea was sued accused of colluding with bumble bee foods and starkist to fix prices . 2 chicken of the sea was in talks to merge with bumble bee but it was called off december 3 2015 after justice department expressed serious concerns . 1 3 product name edit the company s official explanation for the name of their product in the old days fishermen referred to the white albacore tuna as chicken of the sea . it was called this because the white color and very mild flavor reminded them of chicken . the founder of the company thought this would be a unique name for a brand of tuna and the chicken of the sea brand is now widely known in the americas . their advertising mascot a blonde mermaid with a golden scepter was introduced in the 1950s and soon became a familiar product icon . in her book the longest trek my tour of the galaxy grace lee whitney is credited as being the original chicken of the sea mermaid . one of the photographs in the book documents this . she is mostly famous for playing yeoman janice rand in the first season of the original star trek tv series . jessica simpson famously ate a can of chicken of the sea tuna on her tv show newlyweds nick and jessica in which she asked her then husband nick lachey is this chicken what i have or is this fish i know it s tuna but it says chicken ... by the sea sic . bibliography edit the longest trek my tour of the galaxy ; by grace lee whitney jim denney foreword by leonard nimoy ; publisher linden publishing ; 1st edition july 1 1998 ; isbn 1884956033 and isbn 978 188495603 4 ; pg 36 references edit a b http www.justice.gov opa pr chicken sea and bumble bee abandon tuna merger after justice department expresses serious lawsuit alleges starkist colluded over prices ; ansys reports dip in profits ; arnet steps aside at women and girls foundation . pittsburgh star gazette . 6 august 2015 . retrieved 26 august 2015 . chicken of sea bumble bee abandon tuna merger as us objects . abc news . retrieved 2015 12 04 . external links edit chicken of the sea official site chicken of the sea mermaid chicken of the sea 100 years of good chicken of the sea recipes retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title chicken of the sea & oldid 743674547 categories companies based in san diegofood product brandscanned meatcanned foodcompanies established in 1914fish processingseafood companieshidden categories articles lacking in text citations from june 2013all articles lacking in text citations navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 17 33 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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