Clinical Manifestations and Environmental Impact of Fish Smoking Based on Traditional and Improved Ovens in Marcory Anoumabo (Ivory Coast)

The smoking of fish plays a very important role at the economic, social and nutritional levels. Despite its importance, smoking is still practiced through traditional techniques that have a considerable impact on the health of the processors.  The objective of this work is to evaluate the environmental and health impact of traditional and modern fish smoking. The environmental assessment of the Marcory Anoumabo site equipped with an improved oven called FAO-Thiaroye Processing Technique (FTT oven) consisted in measuring the quality of the smoke on the smoking sites. It is a cross-sectional etiological study conducted from July to December 2018 on a sample of 135 women consisting of 40 women who use traditional ovens, 32 women who use FTT ovens and 63 control cases. The results showed that 87.50% and 37.50% of women practicing on traditional ovens versus 43.75% and 15.62% of women using FTT ovens as well as 39.68% and 14.29% of the case controls had respiratory and ophthalmological signs respectively. The gas levels measured at the smoking sites are often higher than the standard (50 mg/m3). This study highlights the deleterious effects of fish smoking.