Proposing Food Safety Standard Operational Procedures to Determine the Value-Based Selling of Salted Fish for Small Business Sustainability: Evidence from Indonesia

The fisheries sector, particularly salted fish in Indonesia, has its own appeal for people, with it being served as a main or complementing side dish. Fish salting in Indonesia, like in many other nations, is still mostly done traditionally, specifically by salting and drying. This is why, when competing on the market, traditionally prepared salted fish can have a low selling value. One of the topics considered is food safety during the fish salting procedure. This technique is said to pose a high risk of disease or contamination, rendering salted fish unsafe for ingestion. This study proposes a mapping of conventional operating procedures linked to food safety in the fish salting process for small-scale firms. The methodologies employed in this study were observation and interviews. Observations were conducted to create a map of the fish salting process in the field. Interviews with 59 invited housewives were performed using open-ended questions. According to the study’s findings, standard operating procedures for food safety are focused on five process areas: purchasing and receiving fresh and salted fish, salting, packaging, and storage. This standard approach can be used to calculate the selling price of salted fish produced in the region. As a result, this study offers a different viewpoint on the selling value of salted fish based on the implementation of food safety requirements rather than concentrating just on the selling price or market network. In future studies, involving small groups of salted fish producers from other locations and including aspects other than food safety will enrich studies on the selling value of salted fish for small-scale businesses.