Adoption of hygienic practices in selected fish markets along the fish supply chain, in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Fish and its products are a major part of the human diet because they are rich in highquality proteins and key nutrients for brain development. Maintaining freshness, quality and hygiene are essential in the supply chain. The purpose of this study was to assess how marketers are adopting hygienic practices in a particular fish market. A random sampling technique was applied to a sample of 100 fish marketing personnel in every five major marketplaces. Semi-structured interview schedule and observation method were used and adequacy index of infrastructure facility, the extent of adoption of hygienic measures and adoption measure for improved marketing practices were detected with descriptive statistics, ANOVA, F test, correlation, and regression by using statistical SPSS 23. Overall availability index in all five markets has shown high infrastructure availability in drainage facility (71.0±0.47%) and electricity supplies (71.0±0.50%), whereas a very less availability index in the washable floor (35.2±0.55%) and ground condition (44.0±0.54%). Among all the nine hygienic practices featured, use of fish landing platform (86.0±0.47%), use of clean polyethylene for a consumer (80.0±0.46%), and use of clean water for washing fish (70.0±0.59%) were adopted by the majority of fish marketing personnel. However, the least attention (less than 50% of the scoring index) related to the adoption practices were observed to have the proper maintenance of waste disposal (31.0±0.43%), ground conditions of approaches and surroundings (34.0±0.54%) and using adequate ice before transportation (47.0±0.46%). The R2 value indicated that all the variables together served as cause for 14.4% of the variation in the adoption level. The major constraints among the marketing personnel were found as per the scoring index the improper maintenance (67.0±8.8%), lack of technical guidance (66.0±24.6%) and irregular market structure (65.0±22.4%), while handling of fish. Research showed that educational level may considerably affect maintaining hygienic practices. In order to obtain high-quality products from fish markets, there is an urgent need for continuous training in good personal hygiene for fish marketing personnel. This study recommends that appropriate mechanisms with the introduction of a grading system be adopted to implement and monitor measures of hygiene practices of fish markets.