Quality of certain ready-to-eat fish products of the domestic trade

Quality of 181 samples of ready-to-eat fish products comprising fried fish, fish curry and fish/prawn pickles collected from Cochin and Calicut were studied. Salmonella was absent in all the samples. V. cholerae was tested in the samples collected at Cochin and was absent in all the cases. Coliforms, E. coli, faecal streptococci and coagulase-positive staphylococci were present in some of the samples studied. The study indicated the necessity to improve the sanitary and hygienic conditions of the hotels engaged in the preparation of these products. The study further indicated that fried fish and fish curry shall not be served after 6 hours of their preparation. Added care is to be exercised in the selection of shrimps and fish for the preparation of pickles.

Status of the shrimp sector in Bangladesh in the context of HACCP and trade issues: a review

Shrimp culture in Bangladesh has emerged as an important aquaculture industry over the last three decades although its culture in greater parts of the farming area is done in traditional ways. In the meantime, the government of Bangladesh has taken necessary measures along with the private sectors to increase production, upgrade processing industries and to promote export performance. Long supply chain in raw material collection, inadequate infrastructure facilities, poor level of cool chain and lack of adequate HACCP-based training on hygiene and sanitation of different groups of people involved in the field level are the main problems of quality loss of raw materials. Shortage of raw materials results in poor capacity utilization of the processing plants. The growth of bagda (P. monodon) hatchery has expanded rapidly over the last few years, remaining mostly concentrated in Cox's Bazar region is enough to meet the target production. However, there is a shortage of pelleted shrimp feed in Bangladesh. A large number of export processors are now producing increasing amounts of value-added products such as individually quick-frozen, peeled and divined, butterfly cut shrimp, as well as cooked products. The export earnings from value added products is about half of the total export value. About 95% of total fish products are exported to European countries, USA and Japan and the remaining to the Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Most of the EU approved shrimp processing industries have been upgraded with laboratory facilities and provided HACCP training to their workers. As of now, HACCP is applied on the processing plants, but to ensure the quality of raw materials and to reduce risks, shrimp farms are also required to adopt HACCP plan. There is increased pressure time to time from importing countries for fish processors to establish effective quality assurance system in processing plants. Fish Inspection and Quality Control (FIQC) of the Department of Fisheries while having moderately equipped laboratories with chemical, bio-chemical and microbiological testing facilities and qualified technical personnel, the creation of facilities for testing of antibiotics is underway. FIQC mainly supervises quality aspects of the processing plants and has little or no control over raw material supply chains from farm to processing plants. Bangladesh export consignments sometimes face rejection due to reported poor quality of the products. Three types of barriers are reported for export of shrimp to EU countries. These are:(1) government participation in trade and restrictive practices (state aid, countervailing duties, state trading enterprises, government monopoly practices), customs and administrative entry procedures (anti-dumping duties, customs valuation, classification, formalities, rules of origin); (2) technical barriers to trade or TBT (technical regulations, standards, testing, certification arrangement); (3) specific limitations (quantitative restrictions, import licensing, embargoes, exchange control, discriminatory sourcing, export restraints, measures to regulate domestic prices, requirements concerning marking, labeling and packaging).

Generation, flow and utilisation of information on the regional fish trade

The purpose of the study was to provide an in-depth understanding of information generation, flow and utilization within Uganda’s regional fish trade. The study was carried out at district headquarters, border points, landing sites and border markets, involving DFOs, Customs Officials, BMU executives and market managers.

Perspectives of impacts of international fish trade in Kenya

There has been tremendous growth in international trade on fish and fisheries products in the last four decades. In 1970 the value of internationally traded fish was estimated at 3 billion; this increased to US$ 15 billion in 1980, US$ 36 billion in 1990 and US$ 55 billion in 2000 (Ahmed, 2003). Recent statistics show that fish trade has surpassed other agricultural commodities that have traditionally been traded internationally such as coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, cereals, meat, oils and milk. In 2000, fish contributed 22% of the value of all agricultural exports, making it the highest internationally traded food product (Ahmed, 2003). In another perspective, nearly 40% of the world's fish is now sold in the international market. The flow of fish in the international market is highly lopsided. About 50% of fish exportscomefromthedevelopingworld ,ofwhich 20%arefrom low-incomefood deficient countries. Most of this fish, however, is consumed by the developed countries, which account for nearly 80% of all imported fish. The EU, USA and Japan are the major importers, accounting for over 77% of global fish imports. Thus, while developing countries playa big role in fish production , they consume very little of it, instead preferring to sell for the hard currency. In some fish exporting countries, especially those in Asia, there is some link between fish exports and imports of substitute and complementary foods. Much of the increased earning from fish exports in those countries is explained by a corresponding rise in expenditure on imported foods. This is not the case in many of the fish exporter nations in Africa. In their case, fish exports generate foreign exchange that they use to meet other socio-political objectives; hardly is it aimed at solving the wider food needs. Therefore, one of the most immediate concerns of international fish trade is its impact on food security in the poor exporter nations.

Product life trade-offs: what if products fail early?

Increasing product life allows the embodied emissions in products to be spread across a longer period but can mean that opportunities to improve use-phase efficiency are foregone. In this paper, a model that evaluates this trade-off is presented and used to estimate the optimal product life for a range of metal-intensive products. Two strategies that have potential to save emissions are explored: (1) adding extra embodied emissions to make products more sturdy, increasing product life, and (2) increasing frequency of use, causing early product failure to take advantage of improvements in use-phase efficiency. These strategies are evaluated for two specific case studies (long-life washing machines and more frequent use of vehicles through car clubs) and for a range of embodied and use-phase intensive products under different use-phase improvement rate assumptions. Particular emphasis is placed on the fact that products often fail neither at their design life nor at their optimal life. Policy recommendations are then made regarding the targeting of these strategies according to product characteristics and the timing of typical product failure relative to optimal product life.

Flow field measurements of pulverized coal combustion using optical diagnostic techniques

This paper demonstrates the application of laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) and particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques to a particle-laden reacting flow of pulverized coal. A laboratory-scale open-type annular burner is utilized to generate velocity profiles of coal particles and micrometric alumina particles. Pair-wise two-component LDV measurements and high-speed stereo PIV measurements provide three-dimensional velocity components of the flow field. A detailed comparison of velocities for alumina and coal particle seeding revealed differences attributed to the wide size distribution of coal particles. In addition, the non-spherical shape and high flame luminosity associated with coal particle combustion introduces noise to the Mie scatter images. The comparison of mean and RMS velocities measured by LDV and PIV techniques showed that PIV measurements are affected by the wide size distribution of coal particles, whereas LDV measurements become biased toward the velocity of small particles, as signals from large particles are rejected. This small-particle bias is also reflected in the spectral characteristics for both techniques, which are in good agreement within the range of frequencies accessible. PIV measurements showed an expected lack of response of large coal particles to the turbulence fluctuations. The overall good agreement between LDV and PIV measurements demonstrates the applicability of the high-speed PIV technique to a particle-laden, high luminosity coal flame while highlighting some of its limitations. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal.

Each stage in the life cycle of coal-extraction, transport, processing, and combustion-generates a waste stream and carries multiple hazards for health and the environment. These costs are external to the coal industry and are thus often considered "externalities." We estimate that the life cycle effects of coal and the waste stream generated are costing the U.S. public a third to over one-half of a trillion dollars annually. Many of these so-called externalities are, moreover, cumulative. Accounting for the damages conservatively doubles to triples the price of electricity from coal per kWh generated, making wind, solar, and other forms of nonfossil fuel power generation, along with investments in efficiency and electricity conservation methods, economically competitive. We focus on Appalachia, though coal is mined in other regions of the United States and is burned throughout the world.