Evaluation of the efficiency and quality of six surfaces in drying Haplochromis sp (enkejje) at Rubare fish landing site in Uganda

Abstract

Uganda has been exporting fish to the European Union and the United States since 1992, but occasionally faces bans on fish exports whenever it fails to process fish to international standards. This study compared the efficiency and quality of the currently used traditional “Bare ground” (BG) fish drying method to five newly constructed surfaces in drying Haplochromis sp. Five surfaces; Plastic palette fabric (PPF), Burnt clay brick (BCB), Popcorn concrete (PC), Screened concrete (SC) and Mass concrete (MC) were constructed within 7 days. Altogether, 24 racks of Haplochromines were used in the comparative study. Slight but insignificant (p > 0.05) differences in moisture loss were observed after day 3 of drying. Comparison of the drying surfaces based on microbial counts revealed considerable reduction in Total Plate Counts (TPC), Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. The TPC (cfu/ml) of microbes reduced most on PPF from 2.3 × 108 before drying to 6.0 × 107 after drying, followed by MC from 1.5 × 108 to 6.0 × 107 and PC from 1.0 × 108 to 2.0 × 107. The TPC however increaed significantly on BG from 1.8 × 108 to 4.0 × 108. The S. aureus counts only reduced on BCB, PPF, and PC, but increased on “BG”, SC, and MC. When fish body shape after drying was considered, BG emerged as the best drying surface producing the least curved fish. Although all the drying surfaces were equally efficient, BG had a worrying increase in TPC and S. aureus, implying PPF or MC could substitute its use to produce better quality fish.