LAUSR

BACKGROUND In traditional food sector, smoking process (SP) and smoking-drying process (SDP) are widely used to increase the shelf-life of seafood products. SP and SDP are mainly performed using barrel kiln and wood as fuel in many Ouest African countries. This study evaluated the performances of barrel kiln and its effects on physicochemical characteristics and safety of smoked fish (SF) and smoked-dried fish (SDF). Twelve follow up were conducted with three experimented processors and 24 samples of fish collected at different steps of processing were analyzed at laboratory using standard methods. RESULTS The extreme values of combustion temperature recorded during SP (456.4 °C) and SDP (482.8 °C) were higher than 450 °C, temperature at which wood pyrolysis generate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Smoked fish were highly contaminated with PAHs, and showed maximal levels of BaP (52.7 μg/kg) and PAH4 (290.9 μg/kg) exceeded about 25 times the EU limits. After smoking of Scomber scombrus and smoking-drying of Cypselurus cyanopterus, no significant differences were recorded for lipid, protein and biogenic amines contents between fresh and processed fish, even if histamine content of both fish exceeded the limit fixed by EU regulation. CONCLUSION The results showed that smoked fish and smoked-dried fish produced using barrel kiln and wood fuel are highly contaminated by PAHs. Therefore, there is a need of improving preservation practices of raw fish and smoking conditions to limit the contamination of end-products by PAHs known as carcinogenic components for human and to ensure consumers safety. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.