CHAIN OF CUSTODY OF FISH MARKETED IN COCHIN CITY: SAFETY AND QUALITY ISSUES

Chain of custody starts with a producer and ends with the ultimate consumer involving a number of intermediaries in between. The involvement of these marketing intermediaries provides services like head loading, processing, preservation, packaging and transportation of fishes which results in addition of cost. The present study examines the chain of custody of fish marketed in Cochin City and its associated safety and quality issues. Among the data isolated, major intermediaries involved in the fish marketing channels of Cochin were identified and the role of each intermediary in the chain was covered in detail. Quality concerns associated with the transportation of fish from the primary stage to consumers were also examined. In addition, surveyed landing centres, fishing harbours, wholesale and retail markets were also monitored for assessing the limitations of infrastructure which could bring up serious issues in terms of safety and quality.