The Shift from a Traditional to an Improved Fish Smoking Oven in Ghana Implications for Food Safety and Public Health

Abstract

Smoked fish products are an important source of animal protein in Ghana. They are processed on traditional ovens (namely, the Chorkor smoker and the metal drum), which results in elevated product contamination with carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pah s). The main regulatory marker for pah s is benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). An improved oven called the fao-Thiaroye Processing Technique (ftt) has been proposed as an intervention. This study evaluated the efficacy of that intervention and evaluated consumer response to its products. Sardinella sp. was smoked separately on the ftt and the traditional ovens and their BaP levels determined. Whereas the mean BaP in the ftt product was 0.2 µg/kg (ten times lower than the EU limit of 2 µg/kg), the levels in the Chorkor smoker and metal drum products were 60 µg/kg and 26 µg/kg, respectively (up to 30 times the EU limit). Consumer acceptance did not differ between ftt and traditional oven products. This suggests that ftt is an efficacious intervention whose products are acceptable to consumers.