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Level 2 · National Proficiency II · CTVET formatTrainee Manual

Fish Smoking and Processing Level 2

Better fish, safer smoke, bigger business. Grade your fish, run an improved oven, keep your records, keep it cold, and price every batch with confidence.

Smoking fish A fish-smoking yard. A clay-brick oven has a small fire hole at the front and stacked wooden trays of fish on top, with thin smoke rising. A woman in a headscarf and apron tends the trays with a long stick. Beside her a blue ice box holds fresh fish, and on the other side stand woven baskets of finished smoked fish. A pile of dry firewood waits by the oven. FRESH · CLEAN · LOW SMOKE · DRY
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Prepared by De-Graft Afful · Version 1.0.0 · October 2026
01

About this module

Level 1 taught you to make smoked fish. Level 2 teaches you to make the same fish better, safer and more profitably, every time.

Who it is for. People who have finished Fish Smoking and Processing (Level 1), or who can show the same skills. National Proficiency II covers varied work, mostly routine, under limited supervision.

CTVET status. No CTVET competency-based programme in fish smoking was found (see the research notes). This module is not a CTVET curriculum. It follows CTVET's format so it can be put forward later.

Numbers in this book. Many Ghana prices and oven costs date from 2014 to 2016 and are old. They are shown with their year. Numbers marked example are invented for practice and are not data. Where a fact could not be checked, the book says not verified.

Bridge from Level 1: what you already know

  • Hygiene and safety on the smoking site; hand washing; separate raw and finished areas
  • Fish handling and the freshness grades E, A, B and C
  • Salting and drying before smoking
  • Smoking on a Chorkor oven: soft and hard smoking
  • A first look at improved ovens
  • Packing, simple costing and selling
  • Starting a small business

Level 1 did not cover moisture checks and yield records, the PAH rules in detail, building and running an FTT or Ahotor oven, the FDA system, ice and cold chain, shelf life and labels, value-added products, full costing with records, or working in a group. Level 2 covers all of these.

How the module works

Each unit has learning outcomes, performance criteria, the range and the evidence your assessor needs. You are judged Competent or Not Yet Competent. About 70% of the time is practical, following CTVET's Oil Palm programme split of about 30% school and 70% workplace.

02

Unit 1 · Quality control and grading

Good smoked fish starts with good raw fish. You cannot smoke a bad fish good.

Competency standard

Learning outcome Performance criteria — the trainee…
1.1 Grade raw fish at receiving grades fish E, A, B or C by sight, touch and smell and accepts or rejects it
1.2 Check the smoked product judges colour, texture, smell and dryness, and weighs to find the yield
1.3 Explain contamination risks names histamine, PAH, mould and insects, and the control for each
1.4 Reduce PAH in the oven applies the four PAH rules while smoking

Range. Sardinella ("ban") and one other local fish. Evidence. Grading sheet; yield record; oral questions.

Receiving fish: accept, downgrade or reject

Good raw fish gives good smoked fish; the quality of the end product depends on the raw material and the process. Use sight, touch and smell. The FAO/EEC table for herring says that gill smell is "particularly discriminatory".

Grade Skin and eyes Flesh and gills Decision
E (best) Bright, full bloom; eyes convex Very stiff; gills fresh, seaweedy smell Accept: best price products
A Slight dullness; eyes flat Fairly stiff Accept
B Definite dullness; eyes slightly concave Stiffness almost gone; slight stale smell Downgrade: smoke first, sell quickly or cheaper
C (unfit) Dull; eyes sunken Soft; gills very brown; strong sulphide, rancid or faecal smell Reject

(Table adapted from FAO-EEC; the decision column is teaching advice.) The table was made for cold-water fish, so treat it as a guide and train your eyes on local fish. A Ghana-specific grading chart for sardinella was not verified.

In the major season, 10–30 percent of the catch is down-graded because of poor icing and handling; such fish is made into momone and sells at about half the price. A strict receiving check protects your name and your money.

Histamine: the danger you cannot smell

Histamine forms when bacteria act on the fish after it has been kept warm. Chilling fast after catch is the main control. Cooking and freezing do not destroy histamine. No Ghana landing-site data for sardinella were found, and sardines and herring are not the classic risk fish, but poisoning incidents have happened. Rule for you: never accept fish that has sat warm and then try to "fix" it with smoke. Reject grade C fish.

Checking the smoked product

Good smoked fish is shiny, firm, with tight skin, a golden colour, a characteristic smell and a pleasant taste. Poor fish is dark, with loose skin, hard texture and a bitter taste, caused by incomplete wood burning and tarry smoke.

Moisture. Soft-smoked fish keeps 40–55 percent moisture and lasts 1–3 days. Hard-smoked fish is dried to 10–15 percent moisture (below 10 is possible) and lasts 6–9 months if properly stored. In Ghana tests, smoked-dried fish packed at 24–26 percent moisture went mouldy within 7 days, while fish under 10 percent kept over 24 weeks in vacuum packs. A measured moisture test needs a moisture meter (price not verified). The simple "bend and snap" test is good practice but not a measurement: a dry fish snaps, a moist fish bends.

Yield. Yield tells you how well you are working. Yield % = weight of smoked fish ÷ weight of fresh fish × 100. A Ghana yield for sardinella is not verified; one FTT trial table showed about 54 percent water loss (approximate; Source: FAO-FTT). Measure your own yield every batch.

The four PAH rules

PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are smoke chemicals linked to cancer risk. In tests, FTT products had BaP up to 1.8 and PAH4 up to 7.6 µg/kg, while products from traditional kilns reached 70 and 395 µg/kg, up to 33 times over the EU limits of 2 (BaP) and 12 (PAH4) µg/kg. The EU banned Ghana smoked fish exports in 2013 because of high PAH. PAH comes from (a) wood burning incompletely, (b) fat dripping on the fire, (c) fish surface or fat overheating, and (d) too much smoke for too long. So:

  • Separate cooking from smoking. Cook with heat; add smoke last and briefly
  • Keep fat off the fire: use a fat tray where you can
  • Keep the air about 80 C, not above 85 C if possible, and never above about 105 C
  • Use clean fuel: dry, untreated, non-resinous wood or charcoal; never diesel, rubber, tyres, waste oil or painted or treated wood

Fatty fish such as sardinella give more PAH than lean fish such as tuna or barracuda. Fully lit charcoal gave less PAH than wood in all kilns tested.

What nobody has told you. On a Chorkor, the fire temperature is typically 300–700 C, which is far too hot for low PAH, and SNV tests found about 11 times the BaP limit and 7 times the PAH4 limit. Your skin, eyes and lungs also take in smoke. Cleaner smoke protects you, your children and your customers.

Grade a batch and record the yield

Tools: grading sheet, scale, tray, basin, clean water, pen.

  1. Wash your hands with soap and running water.
  2. Lay out 10 fish from one basket on a clean table. Look at eyes, skin and gills. Press the flesh. Smell the gills.
  3. Mark each fish E, A, B or C on the sheet. Count how many of each.
  4. Decide what to do with the basket: accept, downgrade or reject. Write the reason.
  5. Weigh the accepted fish (kg). Write the weight on the sheet. This is your fresh weight.
  6. Smoke the batch following Unit 2. When it is cool, weigh the smoked fish. Write it down.
  7. Work out yield % = smoked ÷ fresh × 100.
  8. Smell and look at the smoked fish. Score colour, skin, texture and smell as good, fair or poor.

Check at each step: your hands are clean; you did not mix grades; the sheet is dated. Common mistake: weighing wet fish one day and dry fish another day on a different scale. Fix: use the same scale and write the fish state.

Yield and rejection

(1) A trader brings 120 kg of fresh fish. After smoking, you get 46 kg. What is the yield (to one decimal place)? (2) In a basket of 40 fish you grade 26 as A, 9 as B and 5 as C. What percent are C? What do you do with them? (3) At the example price of GH¢8 a kg, what do you lose if you wrongly accept 15 kg of grade C fish?

Market grading

Visit the landing site or market. Grade 10 fish of one kind with the E/A/B/C table. Write what you saw and what price it was sold at (hub survey, dated).

Check yourself

  1. Which sign is "particularly discriminatory" when grading fish?
  2. Does cooking or freezing destroy histamine?
  3. Name two of the four PAH rules.
03

Unit 2 · Ovens at scale: FTT and Ahotor, fuel and cost

A better oven is a tool. How you run it, and what you burn in it, decide your result.

Competency standard

Learning outcome Performance criteria — the trainee…
2.1 Compare ovens states cost, capacity and PAH result of Chorkor, Ahotor and FTT
2.2 Operate an improved oven follows the cook-then-smoke steps and records temperature
2.3 Build or retrofit explains the build stages and where to get trained help
2.4 Manage fuel and cost measures fuel per kg of fish and costs a batch

Range. Chorkor, Ahotor, FTT. Evidence. Operation log; fuel record; oral questions.

The ovens compared

The table shows SNV/SFMP review figures. The costs are from about 2015–16 and are old; current prices are not verified. Cell positions were scrambled when the report was read, so treat single numbers as approximate.

Oven Material Cost, GH¢ (~2015–16) Fish per load Fuel and PAH note
Chorkor Clay or clay brick 400–800 up to 18 kg a tray, 16 trays a double unit 0.62 kg wood per kg smoked fish (soft smoking); about 11 times the BaP limit
Ahotor Sandcrete blocks, cement, fat tray, air inlets not verified like a Chorkor Wood use 32 percent lower, PAH4 and BaP 36 percent lower than Chorkor
FTT Bricks or cement, galvanised steel about 5,600 about 200 kg a compartment (FAO: 200 kg) 33 percent more efficient than Chorkor in hard smoking; PAH below EU limits

The FAO guide gave a kiln price of about USD 800, a rack about USD 85 and a lid about USD 80 around 2014–15, and a kiln life of at least 25 years. A Chorkor lasts 4 to 8 years. More than 140 Ahotor ovens were installed in 29 communities, and about 60 percent of owners use them; reasons for not using them were that they are slower and cost more. In a GSA test the Ahotor BaP was lower than the limit, but PAH4 with skin on was still above 12; the units were not verified.

In 2025 CSIR-FRI introduced a modified Ahotor with a charcoal-briquette chamber, built-in LPG and the firewood option; it is tiled for hygiene and processors liked it but noted the cost. In 2026 CSIR-FRI began a pilot in six communities in four regions (not Western) comparing it with a retrofitted Chorkor (with a fat tray) and a traditional Chorkor; scientific evidence is still being gathered.

Running an Ahotor or retrofitted Chorkor

The Ahotor has a combustion chamber in the middle of the shell, a fat-collecting tray above it, a primary air inlet, a secondary air inlet over the firewood entrance, a grate and a fat exit at the back. No dimension sheet was found, so build only with a trained builder (CEWEFIA and DAA ran Ahotor training centres from 2018; Source: CRC-Hygienic). Daily use:

Run an improved oven for one batch

Tools and materials: the oven, graded and washed fish, dry untreated wood or charcoal, matches or a lighter, probe thermometer, fat bucket, gloves, tray lifter, water bucket, sand, record sheet.

  1. Clear the area; keep children away.
  2. Check the fat tray is clean and the fat exit is open. Empty the ash.
  3. Weigh the fuel you will use. Write it down.
  4. Arrange the fish in a single layer. Lowest trays: fresher, wetter fish. Upper trays: part-dried fish.
  5. Light a small fire first. On an FTT, use only half a furnace of embers for the first 30 minutes so a crust does not form.
  6. Raise the heat slowly. Aim for about 80 C air at the fish; never above about 105 C. Write the temperature every 30 minutes.
  7. Turn the fish and swap trays. On stacked Chorkor-type racks, swap every 45 minutes.
  8. Watch for flame touching fish or fat. Zero flame, zero smoke during cooking on an FTT.
  9. Empty the fat tray after the first hour if it is full, and when needed (more often for fatty fish).
  10. Cook until the fish is firm. Small fish take up to about 4 hours and large fish up to about 8 hours on an FTT.
  11. Smoke last: on an FTT, move the racks to the second compartment, fit a wet loofah filter, light moist smoke fuel (16–20 percent moisture) and smoke for about 1 hour at 30–34 C.
  12. Cool, weigh the smoked fish and the fuel left. Work out fuel per kg of fish.

Check: no black tar on the fish; fat tray not overflowing; temperatures logged. Common mistake: too much fire early, giving a crust and wet inside. Fix: start small and open the air slowly. Safety gate: fire sand and water at hand; no loose clothes; never lift a full tray alone (18–20 kg; Source: SFMP-Stove).

FTT: parts and building outline

An FTT has an ember furnace, a fat-collection tray, an indirect smoke generator with a filter and a hot-air distributor, with two compartments, one for cooking and one for smoking. It can be built new or fitted onto a good Chorkor base. Outline from the FAO guide: dig a 20 cm foundation trench and cast it with iron bars (two bags of cement, two wheelbarrows of sand and two of gravel); case the walls with 6 mm bars; cast a ledge for the lid; the fat tray is about 99 x 89 cm with six holes of 20 cm covered by cones, tilted slightly and set 5 cm below the rack, draining to a container behind the kiln. Racks are about 98–100 cm x 88–90 cm with galvanised mesh, up to 100 kg of fresh fish a rack for the cinder-block version. Some table cells in the guide were scrambled when read; check every figure against the printed guide before you build. Do not copy FAO drawings without permission. The FAO Accra office links buyers with trained installers. Fat from the tray can be sold for soap or used for cooking.

Maintain: clean the fat collector, empty the ash tray after use, clean trays, replace a darkened filter, and do not use firewood as the cooking fuel on an FTT.

Fuel management

  • Firewood is the biggest cost, over 30 percent of processing and marketing costs.
  • Good fuels: wood, bagasse, corn cobs, coconut shells or husks; prefer non-resinous wood and test the species before use. In an FAO test, filao (Casuarina) gave fewer PAH than dimb (Cordyla). Popular woods in Ghana are esa (Pterocarpus erinaceus) and neem.
  • Keep wood dry and covered, stacked off the ground, away from the oven.
  • Use the fuel ratio to plan: Chorkor 0.62 kg wood per kg smoked fish in soft smoking. With a 32 percent saving the figure would be about 0.42 kg (0.62 × 0.68), but this is an illustration from different tests, not a measured value.
  • Where fuelwood is scarce, charcoal, briquettes or bagasse for smoke may help; ask your trainer what is sold near you.

Fuel and payback (all prices example)

You smoke 60 kg of fish per day on a Chorkor. Wood costs an example GH¢2 per kg. (1) How many kg of wood a day at 0.62 kg per kg? (2) What does it cost? (3) At 32 percent less wood, what is the new daily cost and the saving? (4) Over 20 working days, what do you save? (5) If an oven costs the 2015–16 FTT figure of GH¢5,600, and you save the (4) amount each month, how many months are needed just from fuel savings? (6) Chorkor example cost GH¢600, life 6 years: what is the yearly depreciation?

Fuel record

For one week keep a fuel record: kg of wood or charcoal used, kg of fish smoked, fuel per kg of fish, and price paid (note the date and place).

Check yourself

  1. At what air temperature should cooking be kept?
  2. What is the wood use of a Chorkor in soft smoking?
  3. Why must the fat tray be emptied?
04

Unit 3 · Hygiene systems and food-safety compliance

A clean site that nobody can prove is clean is still a risk. Systems and records are the proof.

Competency standard

Learning outcome Performance criteria — the trainee…
3.1 Set up a hygienic site lays out raw, processing and storage areas and waste handling
3.2 Manage handlers' health and hygiene applies personal hygiene rules and knows the health-screening route
3.3 Control pests uses non-chemical pest control and storage rules
3.4 Meet FDA and local rules lists the registration steps and what inspectors check
3.5 Keep records fills in daily hygiene and batch records

Range. A small smoking site with 2–6 workers. Evidence. Site plan; hygiene checklist; records.

Laying out the site

SNV hygiene training teaches: cover hair, wash hands with soap and running water, do not rush, and keep raw material, processing and storage areas separate; even a small kitchen can be clean. Wash fish in basins with clean water and carry waste water away. Fish drained on sand picks up more bacteria.

Draw and set up a site plan

Tools: paper, ruler, pencil, tape or rope, signs.

  1. Draw a box for your site. Mark the oven and the roof opening or chimney for smoke.
  2. Mark the raw area (receiving, washing), the smoking area and the finished area (cooling, packing, storage). Raw and finished must not touch.
  3. Show a path one way: raw to smoke to finished.
  4. Mark the hand-washing station (tap or bucket with tap, soap, a bin) at the entrance.
  5. Mark drainage and the waste bin; mark the toilet and where children and animals are kept away.
  6. Walk the real site and compare. Tick or fix each point.

Common mistake: packing hot fish next to raw fish baskets. Fix: use a separate table and a rope line.

Handlers' health and personal hygiene

  • Every handler: hair covered, clean apron, short clean nails, hands washed with soap and running water before work, after the toilet and after touching raw fish.
  • No handler with diarrhoea, vomiting, open sores or a running nose works with food (good practice, not cited to Ghana law).
  • Food-handler screening in Ghana is required by Assembly bye-laws. Accra's bye-laws require screening with annual renewal and Accra charged GH¢60 in 2024, but Sekondi-Takoradi's rules cover prepared-food handlers and fees are set each year by the Assembly. Whether a fish smoker must hold the certificate is not verified. Ask the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly Environmental Health office.
  • Section 100(3) of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) bans selling unwholesome or unfit food.

Pest control and storage

Dried-fish beetles are a known problem, and moisture left in the fish invites them. Storage must be separate from the raw area and free of rodents, pests and insects. Losses of unprotected dried fish are reported as high as 30–70 percent, with no official statistics. Traditional processors re-smoke stored fish now and then to drive off insects. Steps: dry the fish to the target moisture; pack in closed containers off the floor and away from walls; inspect weekly; keep the store dry and swept; use traps and covered bins. Chemicals: never spray any pesticide on or near fish; ask the Environmental Health office or the FDA about any product (Ghana-registered products and the label only).

FDA registration and local rules

Facts we could check:

  • The FDA's form dated 1 June 2020 for locally made pre-packaged foods asks for a letter to the CEO, a copy of the business registration certificate, a certificate of analysis per product (no analysis, no application), samples, and fees per product for 3 years (cottage GH¢150, small GH¢450, medium GH¢600, large GH¢900), a label check of GH¢100 per product variant, and renewal every 3 years.
  • A facility licence is a prerequisite for product registration.
  • The FDA fee schedule for the 2023 Fees and Charges regulations (L.I. 2481) lists yearly local-manufacture fees of GH¢100, 200, 300 and 500 for micro, small, medium and large industries, but a 2026 news report gave different figures. Which fee applies to a smoker, and the current figure, are not verified. Ask the FDA before you pay.
  • On 28 July 2026 the FDA seized unhygienic smoked and salted fish after a viral video; education was to extend to coastal districts.
  • The Class 1 scheme (about 2019) asks for an improved oven, hygiene training and an audit of environmental hygiene, pest control and waste management; GH¢100 a year covered a certificate and 500 "health fish" labels. Whether it still runs is not verified.
  • GSA standards named at a workshop: GS 929 (hygienic fish code), GS 1131 (reducing PAH). Not verified. FDA certifies for the home market, GSA for export.

What nobody has told you. Smoked fish is rarely registered by small women processors, yet seizures are now happening. Start with the steps you control: a clean site, trained workers and records. Then take the paperwork one step at a time, with the FDA and Fisheries Commission Post-Harvest Division. FDA contacts quoted in a search summary (fda@fda.gov.gh, +233 302 233200) are not verified.

Records: your proof

Keep three simple records (good practice): (1) daily hygiene checklist (cleaning done, hands-wash station stocked, pests seen, waste taken out); (2) batch record (date, fish source and grade, weights in and out, fuel used, oven temperature log, who worked); (3) complaint and action sheet. A written record lets you trace a problem back to a day and a batch.

Daily hygiene checklist and batch record

  1. Copy the checklist: area cleaned, soap present, water present, bins emptied, pests checked, workers healthy, hair covered.
  2. At the start of the day tick each item and sign.
  3. During the batch record fish source, grade, weight, fuel, temperatures.
  4. At the end sign off and file. Keep records for at least a year (good practice); the tax law asks businesses to keep records for six years (not cited here; see the Level 3 book).
  5. Once a week the group leader reviews and writes one improvement.

Compare two sites

Visit two smoking sites (with permission). Using the checklist, score each out of 10. Write three things the cleaner site does better. Do not take photos of people without permission.

Check yourself

  1. Which three areas must be separate?
  2. Which law section bans selling unfit food?
  3. Name two things the Class 1 scheme checked.
05

Unit 4 · Cold chain, ice, packaging and shelf life

Heat is the enemy of raw fish. Moisture is the enemy of smoked fish.

Competency standard

Learning outcome Performance criteria — the trainee…
4.1 Keep fish cold ices and stores raw fish to keep it at about 0 C
4.2 Store smoked fish stores by moisture class and checks it weekly
4.3 Pack and label chooses a pack and writes a label for a test product
4.4 Plan shelf life explains why shelf life must come from tests

Range. Raw fish for 1–2 days; smoked fish for weeks to months. Evidence. Icing record; pack comparison; label draft.

The cold chain

The goal of chilling is the temperature of melting ice, about 0 C. Deterioration comes from long exposure to hot air at sea, passing through several agents, and transport; use ice at every stage. Canoes in Western Region make 1–4 day trips and carry ice. Cold stores exist at larger sites, but in 2011 only Sekondi's seemed to work, and ice could be bought at Sekondi port. A news item said the Sekondi harbour ice plant could make 30 tonnes a day after refurbishment. Current availability and price of block ice are not verified.

An ice-to-fish ratio standard for Ghana is not verified. A CSIR-FRI research practice held anchovy on flaked ice 1:1 in a perforated cold chest for next-day use; this is not a standard. Use your trainer's advice and test locally.

Ice and hold raw fish

Tools: insulated box with drain, flaked or crushed ice, clean water, shade, thermometer, scoop, scale.

  1. Wash the fish in clean water; do not drain it on sand.
  2. Pre-cool the box with ice for 10 minutes; drain.
  3. Put a layer of ice in the box, then a thin layer of fish, then ice. Do not stack deep; the weight bruises fish.
  4. End with a layer of ice on top. Close the lid and keep the box in shade.
  5. Leave the drain open so melt water runs away. Do not let fish sit in warm water.
  6. Check after 2 hours: ice still present, fish still cold, temperature near 0 C. Add ice if needed.
  7. Smoke the fish soon. Write the time received, iced and processed.

Common mistakes: too little ice; ice not under the fish; box in the sun. Fix: more ice, thin layers, shade.

Storing smoked fish

  • Keep smoked fish separate from the raw area, free of rodents, pests and insects.
  • Fish at about 14 percent moisture kept up to 6 months under several storage methods in one Ghana study.
  • A traditional-pack basin of smoked sardinella (500–600 pieces of about 25 g) weighs about 13 kg and equals 3 packs or 6 baskets. Brown paper, baskets and basins are common.
  • Better packs: polyethylene or vacuum packs with a moisture barrier; the barrier is the critical property. Fish powder keeps well in vacuum polyethylene pouches kept cool or frozen.

Shelf life. Published figures vary: soft-smoked 1–3 days, hard-smoked 6–9 months; a kiln guide said a week to a month, depending on smoking length. A water-activity survey of Ghanaian smoked fish found a wide spread between batches (smoked herrings 0.54–0.94). So never copy a shelf-life figure onto your label. It must come from tests on your product, and the FDA also asks for a certificate of analysis per product.

Labels

The FDA asks for a model label and proof for any claims you make; Class 1 gave "health fish" labels. The exact legal content of a label is not verified. For a practice label, write: product name, net weight, your name and address, date packed, batch number and storage advice. Show the draft to the FDA before printing.

Packs and sales

(1) A basin of smoked sardinella weighs about 13 kg and equals 3 packs. How many kg per pack? (2) At an example GH¢30 per kg, what is a basin worth? (3) You pack 13 kg into 500 g bags. How many bags? At an example GH¢1.50 per bag for packing, what is the packing cost per bag as a share of a GH¢15 bag? (4) 80 kg of raw fish at ice 1:1 needs how much ice? At an example GH¢0.60 per kg, what does it cost?

Pack test

Buy or borrow three pack types (basket, polythene bag, sealed bag). Put 200 g of hard-smoked fish in each, keep them 2 weeks in the same place, open and record smell, softness, insects and mould each week.

Check yourself

  1. What temperature are you aiming for when you ice fish?
  2. Why must shelf life on a label come from tests?
  3. Name the three pack types listed in the traditional trade.
06

Unit 5 · Value addition

Selling the same fish in a new form can lift the price. Do it only after the basics are safe.

Competency standard

Learning outcome Performance criteria — the trainee…
5.1 Choose a product picks a product and states what is verified and not
5.2 Make a test batch follows a labelled-example recipe and records yield
5.3 Sell safely states what testing and registration come first

Range. Fish powder, fish cakes, solar-dried small fish, by-products. Evidence. Test-batch record; costing; oral questions.

Recipes are not verified. No citable Ghana recipe, moisture target or fish-cake formula was found. Any formula below is an example for practice. Do not sell a new product until your trainer has checked it and you have the FDA's advice and a certificate of analysis.

What is supported by sources

  • Fish powder: made from by-products (tuna frames, trimmings, gills) and from burrito fish (Brachydeuterus auritus); stored long under vacuum in polyethylene in a fridge or freezer; used to boost abolo and mpotompoto in school-feeding trials.
  • Fat from the oven tray: can be sold for soap or used for cooking.
  • Solar drying of small fish: an insect-tight CSIR-FRI prototype dried anchovy at 36.7 C for 24 hours, then 42.7 C for 12 hours, reaching water activity 0.62; the fish was a little browner and the texture not the best. Local solar dryers dried tilapia well, but E. coli, Staphylococcus and Salmonella were still found, so hygiene matters. A solar tunnel dryer dried anchovy in 7–8 hours on a clear day against 1–3 days in open sun. A solar dryer's cost in GH¢ is not verified.
  • Momone: a traditional salted, fermented, sun-dried fish made from downgraded fish. Do not use it to hide poor fish.
  • Ready-to-eat products: no Ghana source was found. Do not sell ready-to-eat fish snacks without FDA advice and testing.

Example practice products (recipes: not verified)

Fish cakes (example only). Use well-cooked, boned, hygienically handled fish; mix with cooked mashed cassava or yam, onion, pepper and salt; shape; fry in clean oil; eat or sell the same day, hot or well-covered. Keeping time is not verified. These are not stored products.

Fish powder (example only). Use hard-smoked, well-dried, boned fish; dry again if needed; pound or mill with a clean mill; sieve; pack in a closed container; keep dry and cool. The moisture and shelf life are not verified, so do not sell it until tested.

Test batch of one new product

Tools and materials: hard-smoked fish (graded A or E), clean mill or mortar, sieve, clean bowls, scale, foil trays, closed jars, record sheet.

  1. Wash hands, wear hair cover and a clean apron.
  2. Weigh the smoked fish. Remove bones and any burnt bits.
  3. Pound or mill a small amount (500 g) and sieve it. Weigh the powder.
  4. Work out the yield: powder ÷ smoked fish × 100.
  5. Pack in a clean, dry, closed jar with date and batch number.
  6. Check weekly for smell, lumps (moisture), insects. Write the result.
  7. Cost the batch (Unit 6) and ask three people to taste (non-risk, with clear labels: "test batch"). Do not sell.

Common mistake: damp fish gives lumpy, mouldy powder. Fix: dry to a snap before milling.

Is it worth it?

You mill 5 kg of hard-smoked fish into 4.6 kg of powder (example). (1) What is the yield? (2) The fish cost an example GH¢30 per kg and packing and labour add GH¢20. What is the cost per kg of powder? (3) At an example selling price of GH¢50 per 500 g, what is the profit on the batch?

Idea paper

Write one page: which product might sell in your market, what must be tested first, and what it would cost to make 5 kg.

Check yourself

  1. Can you sell a new product before it is tested?
  2. What can the oven fat be used for?
  3. Why can a solar-dried fish still be unsafe?
07

Unit 6 · Costing, pricing, records and group models

If you do not know your cost per kilogram, you do not know if you are earning.

Competency standard

Learning outcome Performance criteria — the trainee…
6.1 Cost a batch lists every cost and finds cost per kg
6.2 Price adds a margin and checks the market
6.3 Keep records keeps a cash book and a stock card
6.4 Work as a group compares a group model with working alone

Range. One batch of 40 kg smoked fish. Evidence. Costing sheet; cash book; group plan.

The cost lines

Fish, ice, transport, wood, labour, water, packaging, labels, licences, loss (shrinkage) and depreciation of the oven (cost ÷ life years). Current Takoradi prices for fish, wood, ice and labour were not found; every price below is an example and you must replace it with your own price survey (dated).

Worked example (all prices are examples)

Batch: 100 kg fresh fish yields 40 kg smoked (yield 40 percent, example).

Line Working GH¢
Fish 100 kg × 8 800.00
Ice 50 kg × 0.60 30.00
Wood (Chorkor) 0.62 × 40 = 24.8 kg × 2 49.60
Labour example 60.00
Packing 40 × 0.50 20.00
Transport example 30.00
Total cost 989.60

Cost per kg of smoked fish = 989.60 ÷ 40 = GH¢24.74. With a 25 percent margin, price = 24.74 × 1.25 = GH¢30.93 per kg (rounded), so 40 kg gives GH¢1,237.00 and profit GH¢247.40. Margin on cost 25 percent means profit ÷ cost = 247.40 ÷ 989.60 = 25%.

An Ahotor example: the wood would be 0.62 × 0.68 × 40 = 16.9 kg at GH¢2, so GH¢33.70, saving GH¢15.90 per batch (illustration only; Source for the 32 percent: Danoo-Ahotor).

Market prices to compare with: in March 2011 smoked eban sold at GH¢360 a basin in Denu in the lean season against GH¢270 elsewhere, a difference of 33 percent (360 ÷ 270 = 1.333; the source quoted 25 percent). Export-standard smoked fish was said to sell for about GH¢100 a kg in 2022, "roughly ten times local market price". These are old and not a price list.

Records

  • Cash book: date, what, money in, money out, balance.
  • Stock card: date, kg in, kg out, balance (so you can see losses).
  • Batch record: from Unit 3.
  • Credit book: who owes you what and when. Women processors can be pre-financed by fish traders and are often tied to them.

Cost a real batch

Tools: costing sheet, calculator, receipts, price survey.

  1. Collect receipts for every cost line for one batch.
  2. Write each cost with the date and place of purchase.
  3. Add them to get the total cost.
  4. Divide by the kg of smoked fish.
  5. Choose a margin and work out the price per kg.
  6. Compare with two other sellers' prices (dated). If you cannot sell at that price, find where costs can fall.
  7. Enter the day's sales in the cash book.

Group and cooperative models

  • Pooled transport: processors from Duakoro and Bantuma pooled trucks and took turns on market days at Denu to avoid flooding it.
  • VSLAs: village savings and loan groups exist in Western Region; one report listed 6 groups with 155 members and 7 new groups with 222 members. In one microfinance study only 16 percent of women kept control of the loan.
  • Shared improved oven or a model site: Ankobra has a model processing site that was visited on a 2017 study tour.
  • Group Class 1 label, shared cold box, bulk packing buying.
  • Registration of a cooperative: see the Level 3 book; the Department of Co-operatives route is not verified.

Group sums (example)

Five processors share one improved oven priced at the 2015–16 FTT figure of GH¢5,600. (1) What is each share? (2) They hire one truck to Denu at an example GH¢1,800 for six processors. What is each share? (3) A VSLA member saves GH¢20 a week for 40 weeks: how much? (4) A processor sells 40 kg at GH¢30.93 and the cost was GH¢989.60: profit?

Price survey

Ask five sellers the price of one pan or basket of smoked fish, one load of wood and one block of ice (if sold). Write dates and places. Work out the average (show the working).

Check yourself

  1. How do you work out cost per kg of smoked fish?
  2. What is depreciation?
  3. Why pool transport?
08

Unit 7 · Location, small business ideas, marketing and accessibility

A good site and good word of mouth are worth more than any sign.

Competency standard

Learning outcome Performance criteria — the trainee…
7.1 Choose a location names five site needs for a smoking business
7.2 Develop a business idea writes a one-page plan with costs
7.3 Market yourself sets up a WhatsApp Business profile and a referral plan
7.4 Include everyone names tasks and adjustments for persons with disabilities

Range. A small smoking or processing business. Evidence. Site assessment; one-page plan; profile screenshot.

Locations that give good returns

  • Near the landing beach, water and firewood or charcoal
  • With drainage, a roof and an opening for smoke, away from houses
  • For a downdraft stove, a chimney of at least 3.5–4 m through the roof
  • Western Region smoking sites include Axim, Ankobra and Ekpu
  • Within about 200 km of your market; the practical radius of smoked fish
  • Smoked fish from the region goes to Accra and other large markets; retailers travel to Takoradi and Kumasi in the high season

Business ideas and ingenuity

  • Contract smoking for fish traders, who sometimes subcontract
  • Improved-oven smoking for the Class 1 or export niche
  • Oven building and servicing (the FAO Accra office links buyers with trained installers; Source: FAO-C1178)
  • Fat collection for soap makers
  • Drying anchovy and small fish in solar tents
  • Fish powder after testing; packing and labelling for other processors
  • Institutional sales: FAO is linking processors to the Ghana School Feeding Programme

Market yourself

  • A WhatsApp Business profile has a catalogue, quick replies and away messages. Post your photos (clean site, graded fish), prices and a clear pack size.
  • Set up a free Google Business Profile so nearby buyers find you.
  • Put your hygiene certificate or Class 1 label (if you hold one) on the pack. Never claim a certificate you do not hold.
  • Ask for referrals; give samples to shops and canteens; bring a written price list.
  • Show before-and-after: bad Chorkor smoke vs a clean batch with permission.

Accessibility

The Persons with Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715) is the law on disability rights. Many tasks are workable seated or at table height: sorting and grading, weighing and packing, labelling, record keeping, phone and WhatsApp sales, bookkeeping. Keep people with limited mobility, breathing problems or burn injuries away from the oven. Useful adjustments: low steps, handles on trays, a trolley for trays, large-print and picture price lists, bright labels, and work at a table. Reports said the Assemblies' disability share would rise to 5 percent from 2026, but this was not verified here; ask your Assembly about help with tools or training. Teaching should be given in a way each person can follow. Do not use children for smoking or heavy work: school comes first (general principle; legal citation not verified).

One-page plan

  1. Choose one idea from the list above.
  2. Write the product, buyer and place.
  3. Cost one batch (Unit 6).
  4. List what you must register or test first (Unit 3).
  5. Write how you will tell people: WhatsApp Business, signs, referrals.
  6. Present the plan to the group in three minutes.

Money maths (example)

You sell 40 kg a week at GH¢30.93 and your cost is GH¢24.74 a kg. (1) What is your weekly profit? (2) Over 4 weeks? (3) If you give a 5% discount on 10 kg for a shop, how much do you lose on that 10 kg?

Profile draft

Draft your WhatsApp Business description, list 5 products with pack sizes and prices (example if not real) and one photo you would use.

Check yourself

  1. Give three site needs.
  2. Name two seated tasks a person with a mobility difficulty can do.
  3. Why should you not claim a certificate you do not hold?
09

Glossary

Term Meaning
Competent / Not Yet Competent The two possible results of a CBT assessment
Grade E, A, B, C Freshness grades for raw fish, E best, C unfit
Histamine A substance made by bacteria in warm fish; not destroyed by cooking or freezing
PAH Smoke chemicals (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) that raise cancer risk
BaP / PAH4 Test measures for PAH; EU limits 2 and 12 µg/kg
Chorkor The common clay-brick smoking oven
Ahotor An improved Chorkor with fat tray and air inlets
FTT FAO-Thiaroye Technique: two-compartment oven, cook then smoke
Yield Smoked weight ÷ fresh weight × 100
Soft / hard smoking Short smoking (moist, 1–3 days) / long drying smoking (months)
Water activity A measure of free water that decides if mould and bacteria grow
Cold chain Keeping fish cold from catch to smoking
Depreciation Yearly loss in value of an oven: cost ÷ life years
FDA Food and Drugs Authority, which registers foods and premises
Class 1 A Ghana scheme for hygienic smoked fish (status not verified)
VSLA Village savings and loan association
Margin Profit as a share of cost
10

Logbook

Copy these pages into an exercise book. Your logbook is part of your assessment evidence.

  • Unit 1: grading sheet; yield record; market grading homework
  • Unit 2: oven operation log; fuel record; fuel and payback sums
  • Unit 3: site plan; hygiene checklist; batch record; two-site comparison
  • Unit 4: icing record; pack test; label draft
  • Unit 5: test-batch record; idea paper
  • Unit 6: costing sheet; cash book; price survey
  • Unit 7: one-page plan; WhatsApp profile draft
  • Every homework, dated
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Self-check quiz

  1. Which sign is "particularly discriminatory" when grading fresh fish?
  2. What do you do with grade C fish?
  3. Does cooking destroy histamine?
  4. Name the four PAH rules.
  5. What air temperature is the aim during cooking?
  6. How much wood does a Chorkor use per kg of smoked fish in soft smoking?
  7. How often do you swap trays on stacked Chorkor-type racks?
  8. Name the three areas on a smoking site that must be kept separate.
  9. Why can a copied shelf-life figure on a label be wrong?
  10. How do you work out the yield?
  11. A batch costs GH¢800 and gives 32 kg. What is the cost per kg, and the price with a 25% margin?
  12. Name two ways a group can cut costs.
12

Further reading and sources

Best next reads: the FAO FTT guide (a-i4174e); FAO Circular 1178 on improved smoking systems; the SFMP Class 1 hygiene training report; CSIR-FRI news on modified Ahotor ovens; the FDA registration pages.

What this module does not cover: dimensioned drawings of the Chorkor or Ahotor (not found), a measured moisture test, export procedure, HACCP in full (see Level 3), and the FDA's current fees for smokers (not verified).

Every source used in this manual is listed, with links, in the Teacher Copy.

One application of the Cold-Start Learning Kit, which stays general-purpose and can build a guide on any topic in any field. Written in CTVET format; not a CTVET curriculum.