Airs Paul M, Tinsley Jonathan H I, Mvula Winchester, Ventura-Cordero Javier, Takahashi Taro, Nalivata Patson, van Wyk Jan A, Morgan Eric R, Safalaoh Andrews C L
Biological Sciences, Queen's University of Belfast, 19 Chlorine Gardens, Belfast BT9 5DL, UK.
Animal Science Department, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), Lilongwe P.O. Box 219, Malawi.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Jan 1;14(1):147. doi: 10.3390/ani14010147.
Smallholder 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.
小农养羊在马拉维的农村生计和粮食安全中发挥着重要作用，但却遭受着巨大且不可预测的生产损失。虽然养羊生产与当地小规模屠宰和肉铺市场紧密相连，但肉贩的观点以及他们作为动物健康信息来源的潜力在很大程度上尚未得到挖掘。肉贩可以提供有关宰杀时山羊健康状况的见解，以及宰杀前未被发现的问题，例如不可消化异物（IFB）的存在。不可消化异物包括塑料和五金制品（金属、石头及其他硬物）等固体物质，这些物质会导致异物综合征，并可能引发肠梗阻、水肿、营养不良和死亡。为了估计不可消化异物的存在情况，在马拉维的五个地区对150名市场摊位肉贩进行了调查，重点区分五金制品和一次性塑料，尽管已禁止生产，但这些物品在马拉维仍然广泛存在。大多数肉贩发现了塑料不可消化异物（80.7%），超过半数（56.7%）的肉贩报告在过去五次宰杀中最近发现了塑料不可消化异物。五金制品不可消化异物不太常见，45.3%的肉贩报告发现过。虽然一些肉贩事后评论了不可消化异物对肉质指标的影响，但大多数人并未观察到差异。虽然肉贩一致认为健康是采购山羊时的一个重要特征，但70.7%的人认为受伤状况不太重要或不重要。总体而言，本研究突出了马拉维人为废物污染对养羊生产造成的问题，并展示了在市场上监测山羊健康的潜力。
