Airs, Paul M.Tinsley, Jonathan H.I.Mvula, WinchesterVentura-Cordero, JavierTakahashi, TaroNalivata, Patson C.Van Wyk, Jan AucampMorgan, Eric R.Safalaoh, Andrews C.L.2024-08-012024-08-012024-01-01Airs, P.M.; Tinsley, J.H.I.; Mvula, W.; Ventura-Cordero, J.; Takahashi, T.; Nalivata, P.; van Wyk, J.A.; Morgan, E.R.; Safalaoh, A.C.L. Prevalence of Plastic and Hardware Foreign Bodies among Goats at Malawi Markets. Animals 2024, 14, 147. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14010147.2076-2615 (online)10.3390/ani14010147http://hdl.handle.net/2263/97397DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : Original anonymised tabulated data are provided in supplemental File S1, blank copies of questionnaires are available upon request.SUPPORTING INFORMATION: TABLE S1. Base demographics of respondents and areas surveyed per district; TABLE S2. Sourcing of goats by district and distance travelled to market, TABLE S3. Plastic and hardware IFB prevalence among market butchers in different Malawi districts, FIGURE S1: seasonal goat sales rank across study group. FILE S1: Anonymous raw questionnaire responses.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.en© 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/).Small ruminantsPlasticPollutionButcherAnimal healthIndigestible foreign bodiesSDG-02: Zero hungerSDG-03: Good health and well-beingSDG-12: Responsible consumption and productionSDG-15: Life on landSmallholder goat productionIndigestible foreign bodies (IFBs)Article