Ensuring Safe and Hygienic Fish Handling: A Fight for Healthy Consumption
Have you ever wondered how the fresh fish you buy from the shore or market is handled? Or how that smoked fish you buy from the market is processed?
In most of the landing beaches in Ghana, fishmongers arrive early to wait for the fishermen’s daily catch. Upon arrival, the fishermen hand over their catch to the women, who then begin selling and processing.
Unfortunately, spoilage of the fish often starts before they get to the various landing beaches due to the poor fish handling practices by the fishermen after fish harvesting. Some of these small-scale fishermen do not use ice in their fishing expeditions, while others use inappropriate fishing methods to catch the fish. These bad fishing practices tend to stress the fish after they have been caught, affecting the quality before they land.
An interaction with some fish processors at the Tema Canoe Basin within the Fishing Harbour revealed the following:
Madam Angela, a fish processor, admits that her fish are always fresh and safe for consumption. According to her, the fish is preserved on ice immediately after landing and further transferred into a refrigerator at the end of the day to maintain the quality of the fish. In her own words, she explains, “The moment the fish arrive, we preserve it in a cooler full of ice. We don’t wait until the end of the day. By then, it would have gone bad.”
However, some fishmongers display their fish all day and only refrigerate it at the end of the day, risking spoilage.
Aunty Mary, another fish processor, says she puts the fish on ice in a tight-lid container to prevent the fish from spoiling due to the proper training she has received. From her explanation, she says that “some of these fishmongers have not received any education on how they should handle the fish, so they handle it anyhow.”
Aunty Mary adds that most fish processors believe that washing the fish with pipe water affects the appearance of the fish after smoking. Therefore, what they do is use the seawater to wash it to get the desired look and texture that they want. She notes that “There is something like starch water that the fish’s natural water comes with. If that is washed off, the fish won’t look good after smoking. That is why sometimes we use the seawater to wash the fish.”
Despite education on proper processing and handling methods, it is observed that some fish processors still use the traditional ways of smoking to preserve their fish after getting them from the landing beaches.
According to an anonymous insider from the fisheries sector, most fish processors are often reluctant to adopt scientifically validated methods of fish preservation. She noted that, in terms of smoking fish, USAID, NGOs, and other international organizations have introduced improved smoking technologies such as the Ahotor oven and the FTT.
She says a lot of the fish processors are not using the ‘Ahotor oven’ but have resulted in using the traditional smoking technology- ‘Chorkor Oven’ surprisingly. The Officer also added that “The USAID through some organizations and NGOs have introduced the ‘Ahotor ovens’. Unfortunately, they have issues with it because they say it takes time before the fish gets cooked, so most of them are still using the old traditional “Chorkor oven.”
She emphasised the need for continual sensitization of the fish processors on safe and hygienic ways of handling fish. She is optimistic that this initiative, as well as the Safe Fish Certification introduced by the Fisheries Commission, will help influence the attitude of most fish processors and thus encourage them to adhere to the proper handling and processing of fish.
She said, “we are educating and sensitizing them that there are some basic requirements and hygienic standards that they need to meet before they get that certification. So if you are certified, then it means you abide by the various processes and that your fish is much safer “, she adds.
Finally, she calls on the media to promote these initiatives to bring the desired change in Ghana’s fisheries sector. It is worth noting that anytime you buy fish, make sure it is safe and quality for consumption.
By Samuel Yeboah Adams – GFRA Fellowship Student
