An Overview of Traditional Fish Smoking In Africa.

This study was carried out to have a critical overview of traditional fish smoking in Africa. Fish is highly susceptible to deterioration without any preservative or processing measure, and due to its chemical composition, fish is a perishable food material, and its flavor and texture change rapidly during storage after death. Fish harvesting, handling, processing, and distribution provide livelihood for millions of people, as well as providing foreign exchange to many African countries. In many rural fishing communities, the infrastructures for post-harvest processing and preservation of fish are inadequate. As a result, losses reach up to 40% of the total catch by weight. The fishing industry, despite its importance, suffers from enormous post-harvest losses which are estimated at 35–40% of landed weight, and it is estimated that post-harvest losses remain about 25% of the total world catch annually. These losses have a profound adverse impact on fishing communities whose status and income often depend on post-harvest activities. Such losses also have a detrimental impact on the socio-economic life of the fishing communities and reduce the amount of animal protein available to a large segment of the population. In Africa, some 5% of the population, about 35 million people, depend wholly or partly on the fisheries sector, mostly artisanal fisheries, for their livelihood. Various traditional methods are employed to preserve and process fish for consumption and storage. These include smoking, drying, salting, frying, and fermenting and various combinations of these. In most countries in Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, etc., smoking is the most widely practiced method: Practically all species of fish caught can be smoked, and it has been estimated that 70–80% of the domestic marine and freshwater catch is consumed in smoked form. However, different smoking methods are used in processing and preservation of fish by artisanal fishermen in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]