Qualité hygiénique du poisson transformé et commercialisé au Tchad

Hygienic Quality of Processed Fish Marketed in Chad. In Chad, processed fish is one of the food commodities available to all social classes. It is increasingly subject to probable risks of contamination due to the inobservance of the hygiene rules. Because of this suspicion, the consumption of processed fish becomes also a public health problem. This study aims to assess the hygienic quality of fish processed and marketed in Chad. A microbiological analysis was performed on 15 samples of smoked fish and 15 samples of dried fish, randomly collected from a bunch of finished products belonging to a population of 100 female wholesale fish merchants. The fish samples were taken from four villages in the southern border of the Chad Lake, and from N'Djamena fish market. The results indicated that 83,3% of the products were positive to all investigated germs, and that the products were not satisfactory for human consumption. Observations of the working places showed significant technical defects in the fish production process such a non-observance of hygienic rules, the use of not approved conservation products etc. The processed products contained salmonella sp., staphylococci, coliforms, fungi and yeasts, mesophilic flora, anaerobic sulfito-reducing bacteria (ASR), Clostridium and Escherichia coli. This proves clearly that the processors do not respect the basic rules of hygiene. Hence, the results of these analyses urge the actors to improve the microbiological quality of the fish processed and marketed in Chad