Prevalence of Plastic and Hardware Foreign Bodies among Goats at Malawi Markets

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dc.contributor.authorAirs, Paul M.
dc.contributor.authorTinsley, Jonathan H. I.
dc.contributor.authorMvula, Winchester
dc.contributor.authorVentura-Cordero, Javier
dc.contributor.authorTakahashi, Taro
dc.contributor.authorNalivata, Patson
dc.contributor.authorvan Wyk, Jan A.
dc.contributor.authorMorgan, Eric R.
dc.contributor.authorSafalaoh, Andrews C. L.
dc.contributor.departmentAnimal Health and Welfare
dc.date.accessioned2024-03-14T09:07:07Z
dc.date.available2024-03-14T09:07:07Z
dc.date.issued2024-01-01
dc.descriptionPublication history: Accepted - 29 December 2023; Published - 1 January 2024
dc.description.abstractSmallholder goat production plays a major role in rural livelihoods and food security in Malawi, but suffers from drastic and unpredictable production losses. While goat production is closely linked to small-scale local markets for slaughter and butchering, the perspectives of butchers and their potential as a source of animal health information are largely untapped. Butchers can provide insights into goat health status at slaughter as well as issues that go unseen before slaughter, such as the presence of indigestible foreign bodies (IFBs). IFBs include solid materials such as plastics and hardware (metals, stones, and other hard objects) that cause foreign body syndrome and can lead to impaction, oedema, malnutrition, and death. To estimate the presence of IFBs, 150 market stand butchers were surveyed across five districts in Malawi, focusing on a distinction between hardware and single-use plastics, which are still widely present in Malawi despite bans on production. Most butchers found plastic IFBs (80.7%), with over half (56.7%) reporting plastic IFBs recently among the past five slaughters. Hardware IFBs were less common, reported by 45.3% of butchers. While some butchers commented on the impact of IFBs on meat quality metrics ex-post, the majority observed no differences. While butchers unanimously considered health to be an important characteristic when sourcing goats, 70.7% consider injury status to be less important or not important. Overall, this study highlights the issue of anthropogenic waste pollution on goat production in Malawi and demonstrates the potential for the surveillance of goat health at market.
dc.description.sponsorshipThis research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [grant number BB/S014748/1, 2018].
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12518/671
dc.identifier.citationAirs, P.M., Tinsley, J.H.I., Mvula, W., Ventura-Cordero, J., Takahashi, T., Nalivata, P., van Wyk, J.A., Morgan, E.R. and Safalaoh, A.C.L. (2024) ‘Prevalence of Plastic and Hardware Foreign Bodies among Goats at Malawi Markets’, Animals. MDPI AG. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14010147.
dc.identifier.issn2076-2615
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.3390/ani14010147
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherMDPI
dc.rights© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
dc.subjectsmall ruminants
dc.subjectplastic
dc.subjectpollution
dc.subjectbutcher
dc.subjectanimal health
dc.subjectindigestible foreign bodies
dc.subjectsmallholder
dc.titlePrevalence of Plastic and Hardware Foreign Bodies among Goats at Malawi Markets
dc.typeArticle
dcterms.dateAccepted2023-12-29
dcterms.dateSubmitted2023-11-05

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