Abstract: Red or dark meat portions of whole fish are restructured and preferably combined with light meat fillets or loins to produce a palatable, nutritious fish product. The process comprises comminuting the red meat, trim, carcass and skin of the fish to form a minced meat mass that is colored with a heat stable dye to resemble the natural color of tuna and subjected to plastic flow at temperatures of about 70.degree. C. to about 90.degree. C. and hen decolored and dewatered to form a restructured product which after retort cooking, has the chewy texture, aroma, color and flavor of the more desirable loin or fillet portions of the fish. The restructured product may be combined with cooked loins or fillets to produce a product which closely resembles 100% loins or fillets.

Abstract: Red or dark meat portions of whole fish are injected into light meat fillets or loins of fish to produce a palatable, nutritious fish product. The process comprises comminuting the red meat, trim, including bellies, carcass and skin of the fish to form a minced meat mass that is colored with a heat stable dye to resemble the natural color of the fish, setting or cooking, decoloring and micro cutting the minced meat and pumping or injecting the minced meat into fillet or loin portions of fish up to about 108% to about 150% of the original weight of the loin portion. The loin portions injected with minced meat may then be cooked to form a product that has chewy texture, aroma and flavor of loins or fillet portions of fish.