This week, Value for Moneycompares five varieties of tuna.

***** Excellent

**** Great

*** Fine

** Below Par

*Awful

Mermaid Bay Tuna Chunks in Brine, €0.69 for 185g, €3.73 per kg

Highs:This tuna, produced in Ghana, is part of Tesco's much-heralded discount range and certainly is very cheap. It is steeped in "brine" (not salty water, you understand) and is commensurately less greasy than its rivals.

Lows:"Review this? I wouldn't feed it to my cat!" was how one of Pricewatch's colleagues summed this up. To be fair to Tesco, it is not as bad as all that, and we'd certainly have no problem feeding it to our cat if we had one. We would, however, have a serious problem feeding it to ourselves ever again. It smells vile, looks vile and tastes absolutely awful. The chunks had fallen apart well before we opened this can, leaving behind a congealed mess.

Verdict:Never again

Star rating:*

Sunny South Albacore Tuna Fillets, €4.95 for 230g, €21.52 per kg

Highs:This jarred white tuna from Spain – a country which knows a thing or two about tuna, after stealing all of ours – is excellent, firm and meaty and not excessively salty. It tastes very fresh and a little of it goes a long way in a pasta dish or on a top-notch salad. It is soaked in a light olive oil which is not at all greasy and adds a hint of flavour without dominating proceedings. The glass jar means it can be resealed (although that is only a marginal plus), leaving it free of any tinny aftertaste.

Lows:It is very expensive, so developing a taste for it can prove ruinous; it might also be a little to dear too put into a simple sandwich, unless you're feeling particularly flash.

Verdict:Top dog

Star rating:*****

John West Tuna Steaks in sunflower oil, €1.59 for 200g,

€7.15 per kg

Highs:You can hardly review tuna without reviewing John West, one of the long-standing products on Irish supermarket shelves. In recent months it has clearly gone just a little up-market with a fancy new can, to which a tiny amount of sunflower oil has been added. The small amount of oil means draining it is unnecessary and the potential for making a mess is significantly reduced. It is pink and meaty and, although not as fancy as some of the posher options, it is comparatively cheap; once it's teamed up with some mayonnaise and sweetcorn, it's hard to beat in a sarnie.

Lows:The lack of oil means it is a little on the dry side, which we wouldn't mind, except that we were promised "succulent" on the tin.

Verdict:A fine everyday product

Star rating:***

Dunnes Stores Tuna Chunks in sunflower oil, €1.05 for 185g, €5.67 per kg

Highs:Pricewatch is terribly hard to please – the John West tuna didn't have enough oil and this had way too much; merely opening it caused an unholy mess in our kitchen. While this is a long way from nice, it is just about okay and, as cheap tuna fish goes, we have tasted a lot worse.

Lows:The texture is a little spongy and it is a lot more fishy than we would have liked, while the tinny flavour was just a little too pronounced.

Verdict:Cheap

Star rating: **

Ortiz Ventresca de Bonito del Norte, €9.50 for 110g, €86.36 per kg

Highs:Ortiz is a name that is synonymous with good, if slightly pricey, tuna fish – but, even by the company's exalted standards this is an extravagant product. It is said to be the best canned tuna in the world, made as it is with the belly of tuna fish hand-caught in the Bay of Biscay. It is delicately flavoured and has a distinctly velvety texture. It is a producto artesano which, if our Spanish is any good, means an artisan's product.

Lows:At €9.50 for a tiny tin, we'd nearly want that artisan to call round to our house, fillet the tuna on our kitchen table in front of us and place it delicately into the tin before redecorating our living-room.

Verdict:Great. Expensive

Star rating: ***