Muchangos AC 1 , McCrindle CME 1 , Matusse H ³, Makita K 2 Poultry is a major component of the diet, a valuable and affordable source of protein for all society in Mozambique. However, it is unknown whether poultry meat consumption contributes to diarrheal diseases, an important cause of mortalities in the country. The contamination rate with E. coli Type I was significantly higher in live bird markets (63%) than formal abattoir (39%) and farms (40%). The Coliforms was significantly higher in abattoir (41%,) than farms (21%) and live bird market (6%). The APC was significantly higher in live bird markets (87%) than formal abattoir (64%) and farms (44%). Of the 3 bacterial counts that are most likely to prejudice food safety rather than quality, the level of E. coli Type 1 is the most important as it indicates faecal contamination. This suggest a higher likelihood of risk in poultry meat from live bird markets than those from the formal abattoir or direct from the farm. However, all three value chains were contaminated with the faecally derived organism, which has the potential to cause food born disease in consumers. Table 1 shows the estimated number of carcasses contaminated with E. coli Type 1, entering the market per week Prerequisites such as lack infrastructure for processing, inadequate waste management and poor hygiene were observed in live birds markets and farms. Deficient disinfection of equipment and utensils, inadequate washing of carcasses, Inadequate chilling temperature and poor personal hygiene were observed at abattoirs. The magnitude of the risk for a single consumer can be estimated from market segmentation, based on the estimated number of fowls slaughtered per week per outlet type. Although the highest proportion of contaminated carcasses is from the live birds markets, the largest number of contaminated poultry carcasses comes from the high throughput abattoirs. Hygiene assessment and management system is proposed for all three value chains with a focus on the CCPs identified by the research. A participatory risk communication strategy has been developed for all involved in the poultry value chain to improve hygiene and safety of poultry meat. Participatory risk analysis to investigate the value chains for poultry processing in Maputo, indicating possible stages at which there was a risk of microbiological hazards that could influence safety of the final product: • semi-structured interviews; • focus group discussions; • observation of poultry processing in formal and informal slaughter The magnitude of the risk of microbiological hazards was estimated using laboratory analysis. Samples of poultry carcasses were randomly collected from abattoirs, live bird markets and farms, and processed using 3M™ Petrifilm™ Plates for E coli Type I, Coliforms and Aerobic Plate Count as indicators of contamination to assess the compliance with GHP and GMP, considered relevant pre-requisites for HACCP. Fig 1 Shows the poultry value chain as a flow diagram, for each type of processor in Maputo Fig 4 Relative frequency at live market Fig 3 Relative frequency at farms Fig 2 Relative frequency at abattoir 1 University of Pretoria, South Africa 2 International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya 3 Institute for Agricultural Research of Mozambique ILRI, University of Pretoria, Institute for Agricultural Research of Mozambique and Mozambique Poultry Association are acknowledged for contributions to this research Farms 10943 40 4377 Abattoirs 43772 39 17071 Market 3283 63 20684 Outlet type Fowls slaughtered/week Freq. of contaminated carcasses/week % positive for E coli Type 1 CAC. 2005. Code of hygienic practice for meat1. RCP 58. CAC. 1999. Principles and guidelines for the conduct of microbiological risk assessment. GL- 30. Directorate for Veterinary Services (DVS). 2007. Standards for microbiological monitoring of meat. VPN/15/2007-1. Pretoria. Directorate for Veterinary Services (DVS). 2007. Meat Inspectors Manual. Poultry, Part II. Pretoria. Ministério da Saúde. 1997. Manual de Microbiologia Alimentar. Maputo. Mozambique Poultry Association. 2009. Annual report. Maputo