A comparative study of the quality and shelf life of fish smoked using chorkor oven and ahotor oven

Abstract

A number of traditional fish processing methods exist in Ghana with the most common being smoking using the Chorkor oven. Studies have, however, shown that smoking with Chorkor oven has both health and environmental implications through release of PAHs and other compounds that are carcinogenic, and increased deforestation which accelerates climate change through excessive use of firewood. The Ahotor oven was designed in order to address the issues posed by the use of Chorkor oven. To enhance its adoption, a comparative study was carried out to determine the quality and the shelf life of products smoked using Chorkor oven and Ahotor oven. Two fishing communities, namely; Winneba and Shama-Kesewokan were selected as the study locations while Atlantic chub mackerel (Scomber colias) was the selected species. Fish samples at both sites were smoked using both ovens and analyzed with respect to safety and shelf-life. Results revealed that aroma, texture, moisture and protein varied significantly while appearance, taste, acceptability, ash content, fiber content did not vary significantly in quality and shelf life indicators of fish smoked using the two oven types at the two study sites. TVB-N and PV values obtained were both within maximum acceptable limits for smoked fish smoke with two ovens. PAHs for Chorkor oven smoked samples were higher than those smoked with Ahotor oven, however, they both exceeded the EU maximum residue limit of PAHs in smoked fish. From this research, it can be concluded that fish smoked with these two ovens are not significantly different in terms of quality and shelf life, however, there is the need for a standardized method of fish smoking.