The 5 Mackintosh Steps

Bluefin Tuna from the Straight of Gibraltar

This protocol that we use avoids animal suffering, they are executed by hand, one by one, instantly after being captured and they are essential to enhance the quality of the tuna in its original state.

Just like it happens with rough diamonds or noble woods, depending on how that diamond is polished or how that noble wood is worked by a cabinetmaker, their maximum quality will be brought out or a lower quality result will be obtained. We are bluefin tuna artisans and bluefin tuna is the crown jewel of the tuna family. Through this technique of The 5 Mackintosh Steps we manage to maintain the fabulous quality of the authentic wild-caught bluefin tuna from Tarifa.

Within the fishing activity there are 3 well-defined categories: Industrial Fishing, Artisanal Fishing and Recreational Fishing, being only the first two categories the ones that can legally market their catches. The difference between these 3 categories is better understood if we compare it with other types of activities, such as cooking for example. Industrial food, artisanal cooking (signature or market) and domestic cooking. None of them is better or worse than the others by nature, they are just different types of procedures and results for different types of situations and needs.

We, at JC Mackintosh, due to our quota volume, the size of our boats, and the distance from the coast to which we fish, we are in the second category, artisanal fishing. We are fish for wild-caught bluefin tuna and we do it with line and hook, one by one.

This allows us to have a direct connection with the product and take care of every step during the capturing process. The DNA of our business model revolves around three commitments that we take very seriously: Sustainability, Animal Welfare and Quality. The technique of The 5 Mackintosh Steps that we have developed puts these three commitments into practice during the capturing of tuna.

The 5 Mackintosh Steps are:

1.- Stress free capturing

2.- Ike Jime Sacrifice

3.- Total Bleeding

4.- Eviscerated

5.- Control Cooling