Parents lie to young children all the time. Sometimes it’s to protect them from a painful reality.

Such as when a mother tells her three-year-old that the family’s Golden Retriever is now on a friend’s farm far away because she missed her brothers and sisters. Instead of saying she’s now on a slab at a pet crematorium close by because a truck driver hit her.

The mistruth my mother told me when I was three was different. It was a lie of convenience that created a painful reality.

The way mom would tell the story is that I absolutely loved chicken, so much so that I would question her and pester her if she served anything else. Because of that, she told me my first-ever tuna salad sandwich was a chicken salad sandwich.

At least she used Chicken of the Sea tuna.

I took a bite and remarked, “This chicky was swimming in the sea, Mommy.” Once done, I asked for a second sandwich — which I didn’t get.

But I did get sick. Really sick.

I vomited off and on for two days. Every single time I did, I smelled the smell that made me say, “This chicky was swimming in the sea, Mommy.”

After that, any sort of fish smell would make me nauseous.

Which explains why — no lie — I’ve never eaten any type of fish since then, as well as why I didn’t participate in a recent taste test of a product I believed warranted review: Safe Catch Wild Elite Pure Tuna.

The belief was based on an email I received on December 3 from Cassandra Weller at Asylum Public Relations. It explained that Safe Catch Wild Elite Pure Tuna is sold in pouches, doesn’t require refrigeration or cooking, and would make a great Christmas gift for “someone who owns more workout clothes than work clothes and prefers protein bars to candy bars.”

The samples didn’t arrive in time to be included in a Christmas gift column, though — and tuna’s not exactly what guys and gals want to receive on Valentine’s Day. But the feedback from the three taste testers was so positive that it’s worth sharing in spite of all that.

The reason why this product review starts with my fish-smell phobia is all three taste testers stressed that Safe Catch Wild Elite Pure Tuna has far less of a fishy smell than the brands of tuna they usually get. But more about the taste test later.

What needs to be established first is that tuna is about as healthy a meat option and as protein-packed a food as you can get. Stories of bodybuilders who got cut to the bone and won major competitions after weeks of adhering to a diet of steamed broccoli, baked chicken breasts, and canned tuna are legendary.

Tuna’s nutritional numbers are equally acclaimed, too.

A three-ounce pouch of Safe Catch Wild Elite Pure Tuna contains 100 calories, 96 of which are protein and none of which are fat. But great nutritional numbers mean little unless the food tastes good (and doesn’t smell bad).

According to all three test testers, Safe Catch Wild Elite Pure Tuna has a better taste than the tuna they’re accustomed to. Even if you eat it straight out of the pouch, as taste tester number one did.

He called the taste “more robust” than typical tuna, but admitted he hadn’t had any in a while because “it’s not the most flavorful thing in the world” and “making tuna salad makes my hands stink for days.”

To play devil’s advocate, I told him Safe Catch Wild Elite Pure Tuna is more expensive than typical grocery store tunas. His response: “It would have to be a helluva lot more expensive for me not to get it.”

That sentiment is essentially the same as the one expressed by taste tester number three who made tuna salad for herself and taste tester number two. During the making of it, she too noticed less of a fishy smell, and during the eating of it, taste tester number two said the same.

Not to mention, “This sandwich is excellent.”

That didn’t surprise the chef, but what did is that two pouches made three packed-to-the-brim sandwiches with a bit leftover. A fact that needs to be considered when you’re considering if the cost of Safe Catch Wild Elite Pure Tuna is a “helluva lot more” expensive or not.

A single, three-ounce packet sells for $3.19 at Giant supermarket on Blakeslee Boulevard in Lehighton, though you can reduce the cost by buying in bulk online. (According to the online store locator, Safe Catch products are available at the other local Giant stores, the Redner’s in Northampton, and the ShopRite in Brodheadsville.)

One final factor worth considering is one I intentionally withheld from the taste testers. Safe Catch uses a proprietary technology to test every single tuna they process for its mercury content, and their own mercury limit, 0.10 parts per million is 10 times stricter than the FDA limit.

No wonder it’s the Official Tuna of the American Pregnancy Association.