Traditional Smoked Shrimp Products and Socio-economic Condition of the fishing community

A detailed survey was conducted on September 2007 on the present status of smoked shrimp production and marketing in coastal village of Paikgacha, Khulna, through interview with cross section of people engaged in smoked shrimp production and marketing. This study was undertaken for exploring the processing technique of traditional smoked shrimp products and the socio-economic condition of the coastal people involved in this activity. The present study reveals that the livelihood status of the most smoked shrimp producers are below poverty level. They are illiterate and are not aware about the quality aspects particularly on hygiene and sanitation of smoked shrimp products. The overall quality of the traditional smoked shrimp products including processing, handling, packaging and transportation in the markets is very poor. So, efforts should be made to remove problems for building up an ideal shrimp smoking and marketing system.