Do These Images Show the Use of Goat Droppings in Beverages as Claimed?

Images of goat droppings being collected and added into a beverage in a plastic tumbler haves sparked discussions on how nutritious these droppings are.

This tweet for instance claims goat droppings are in demand in China, for their rich protein content. These claims were featured on this YouTube upload with the same images on November 28, 2021. The headline reads; ‘Sheep and goat’s feces are presently in demand in China because of its richness in protein.’

screenshot of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxX-fKr1xSw

Background

Oftentimes, goat poop is used as organic fertilizer which is believed to be rich in Nitrogen. According to Garden KnowHow these pelletized droppings do not attract insects or burn plants as compared to manure from cows and horses.

Verification

First, running these images through reverse image searches, results reveal that, the first image showing a goat and a plastic cup, with goat droppings, is actually fabricated. Here’s why:

The original image of this goat was published on  Your Hobby Farm website in an article on raising goats. The article touches on the use of goat droppings as manure.

We further check for any inconsistencies between these two images, that is the original and the fabricated one. An Error Level Analysis on FotoForensics shows that the first image has no evidence of modification. However, the fabricated one shows inconsistencies between the photoshopped plastic cup and the goat as circled below.

Additionally, the original image faces the left, while the fabricated one, faces the right indicating that it has been rotated.

On the other hand, the second, third and fourth images show the Pearl milk Tea or Zhen Milk Tea, a popular beverage in Asia. From this reverse image search, the Zhen Milk Tea has a large amount of pearls made from Tapioca, (the black toppings) that can burst a cup.

Verification

Images showing goat droppings added to beverages as toppings for protein sources are FALSE.

This story was produced by Africa Uncensored in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.

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