The small-scale fisheries and fish trade sector is important in global and national
economies by providing millions with income and consumers with food. Nile perch
(
Lates niloticus
), Nile tilapia (
Oreochromis niloticus
), and small cyprinid
(
Rastrineobola argentea
) form the basis of commercial fishery in Lake Victoria. From
1997 to 2000, East Africa suffered a series of fish export bans due to contamination
by Salmonella, cholera epidemics and use of chemicals in Lake Victoria. Kenya
thereafter adopted hygiene requirements in European directive 91/493/EEC for fish
and fish products. Kenya’s fish production from the lake declined from 180,000
metric tons in 2003, down to 133,000 metric tons in 2010. Globally, 30% of total fish
catch is lost through poor post harvest handling. The objectives of this study were to
determine the socio-economic conditions of small-scale fish traders, to investigate
hygienic practices in handling, storage and processing of fish, and to isolate and
identify human pathogens in both fresh and processed fish sold in Kisumu markets. A
structured questionnaire was used to get demographic, socio-economic, safety and
quality practices information. Samples of fresh and processed fish were tested for
Aerobic Plate Count,
Coliform,
Escherichia coli
and
Vibrio cholera
counts. Results
revealed that women traders were 81% in number while men were 19% and most of
the traders (40%) were aged between 26 and 35 years. The highest level of education
attained by majority (51%) of the traders was primary level. The traders’ most
frequent income was KES 200-399 (USD 3 to 5) a day which cannot sustain a family.
Most traders (57%) had additional sources of income to subsidise their needs. Many
traders lacked good transport, refrigeration facilities, water, toilet, waste disposal and
rubbish disposal. Total plate count was above 10
6 per g which is the maximum
allowed. The association between Total Plate Count and hygiene quality status of the
samples was significant negatively at p value ≤ 0.001. Traders should be trained on
hygiene requirements and economic skills for better practices to improve business
performance.
