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EAS 1:2011
ICS 67.060
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY
© EAC 2011
Second Edition 2011
iDevelopment of the East African Standards has been necessitated by the need for harmonizing requirements governing quality of products and services in East Africa. It is envisaged that through harmonized standardization, trade barriers which are encountered when goods and services are exchanged within the Community will be removed.
In order to meet the above objectives, the EAC Partner States have enacted an East African Standardization, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Test Act, 2006 (EAC SQMT Act, 2006) to make provisions for ensuring standardization, quality assurance, metrology and testing of products produced or originating in a third country and traded in the Community in order to facilitate industrial development and trade as well as helping to protect the health and safety of society and the environment in the Community.
East African Standards are formulated in accordance with the procedures established by the East African Standards Committee. The East African Standards Committee is established under the provisions of Article 4 of the EAC SQMT Act, 2006. The Committee is composed of representatives of the National Standards Bodies in Partner States, together with the representatives from the private sectors and consumer organizations. Draft East African Standards are circulated to stakeholders through the National Standards Bodies in the Partner States. The comments received are discussed and incorporated before finalization of standards, in accordance with the procedures of the Community.
Article 15(1) of the EAC SQMT Act, 2006 provides that “Within six months of the declaration of an East African Standard, the Partner States shall adopt, without deviation from the approved text of the standard, the East African Standard as a national standard and withdraw any existing national standard with similar scope and purpose”.
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards they are implementing.
© East African Community 2011 — All rights reserved*
East African Community
P O Box 1096
Arusha
Tanzania
Tel: 255 27 2504253/8
Fax: 255-27-2504481/2504255
E-Mail: eac@eachq.org
Web: www.each.int
*© 2011 EAC — All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for EAC Partner States’ NSBs.
ii| 1 | Scope | 1 |
| 2 | Normative references | 1 |
| 3 | Terms and definitions | 1 |
| 4 | Quality requirements | 2 |
| 5 | Food additives | 3 |
| 6 | Hygiene | 4 |
| 7 | Contaminants | 5 |
| 8 | Packaging | 5 |
| 9 | Labelling | 5 |
| 10 | Methods of sampling | 6 |
This revised standard has incorporated the specific compositional requirements for wheat flour. The standard has prescribed the permissible levels of food additives in wheat flour. Microbiological requirements for wheat flour have also been stipulated.
In the preparation of this East African Standard, the following sources were consulted extensively:
United States Standards for Wheat, Effective May 2006
Wheat, Official Grain Grading Guide, August 1, 2009, Canadian Grain Commission
Department of Agriculture, Regulation Gazette No. 6225, 10 July 1998, Agricultural Product Standards Act, 1990 (Act No. 119 of 1990), Regulations relating to the grading, packing and marking of wheat intended for sale in the Republic of South Africa + Amendment of 19 July 2002, No. 23622 and Amendment of 19th August 2003, No. 25370
Department of Agriculture, Regulation Gazette No. 22658, 11 September 2001, Agricultural Product Standards Act, 1990 (Act No. 119 of 1990), Standards for grades of Class Bread Wheat, Class Biscuit Wheat and Class Durum Wheat
Department of Agriculture, Regulation Gazette No. 30782, 22 February 2008, Agricultural Product Standards Act, 1990 (Act No. 119 of 1990), Regulations relating to the grading, packing and marking of wheat products intended for sale in the Republic of South Africa
ivEAST AFRICAN STANDARD
EAS 1:2011
Wheat flour — Specification
This East African Standard prescribes the requirements and methods of sampling and test for wheat flour (other than durum wheat flours) intended for human consumption.
The following normative documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text constitute provisions of this East African
EAS 35, Edible salt — Specification
EAS 38, Labelling of prepackaged foods — Specification
EAS 39, Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry — Code of practice
EAS 51, Grades of wheat grain — Specification
EAS 82, Milled cereal products — Methods of test
EAS 103, Schedule for permitted food additives
ISO 16050, Foodstuffs — Determination of aflatoxin B1, and the total content of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 in cereals, nuts and derived products — High-performance liquid chromatographic method
ISO 13690, Cereals, pulses and milled products — Sampling of static batches
CODEX Stan 193, Codex general Standards for contaminants and toxins in Food and Feed
ISO 5498, Agricultural food products-Determination crude fibre content-General method
ISO 2171, Determination of Ash content
ISO 1871, Food and feed products-General guidelines for the determination of nitrogen by the Kjeldahl method
shall be the product made from milling clean wheat grains conforming to the requirements of EAS 51
obtained by milling wheat grains at extraction rates that leaves negligible amounts of bran
white wheat flour obtained by milling high protein wheat intended for bread making
white wheat flour obtained by milling wheat grades or blends of hard and soft wheat intended for domestic use
1white wheat flour obtained by milling a blend of hard and soft wheat with a high percentage of soft wheat for biscuit manufacture
white wheat flour obtained by milling low protein wheat with no improvers
white wheat flour obtained by milling a blend of soft and hard wheat to which raising agents are added
wheat flour obtained by milling wheat grains at a higher extraction than home baking flour
wheat flour obtained by milling the entire wheat grain to fine particle size without any separation
wholemeal flour with coarse particles
The wheat grain from which the flour is obtained shall be of sound quality, free from sand, have characteristic odour and flavour complying with the relevant East African Standards
All types of wheat flour shall have the characteristic colour and shall be free from any objectionable flavours and odours.
The flour shall be free from insects, worms, fungal infestation, rodent contaminations and foreign matter.
The flour shall not contain flour from other cereals. However, the addition of malted barley flour not exceeding 1 % is permissible in the case of baker’s flour.
The shelf life shall be three months for wholemeal and atta, but six months for all other flours.
The types of wheat flour shall comply with the compositional requirements given in Table 1
2| Types of flour | Moisture content, max. %, m/m | Fibre content, max. %, m/m | Total ash content, max. %, m/m | Residue on sieving through 180 micron-sieve, max. % | Protein content, min. %, m/m | Mixture of acid-ingredients and sodium bicarbonate added, max. %, m/m | Total aflatoxin | Aflatoxin B1 only, ppb max | Fumonisin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White wheat flour: | 10 | 5 | 2 | ||||||
| Baker’s flour | 13 | 1.0 | 0.70 | 0.80 | 11.0 | – | |||
| Home baking flour | 13 | 1.0 | 0.70 | 0.80 | 9.0 | – | |||
| Biscuit flour | 13 | 1.0 | 0.55 | 0.50 | 8.0 | – | |||
| Cracker flour | 13 | 1.0 | 0.70 | 0.50 | 8.0 | – | |||
| Self-raising flour | 13 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.80 | 8.0 | 4.5 | |||
| Standard flour | 13 | 1.5 | 1.10 | 30.0 | 11.0 | – | |||
| Atta flour | 13 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 55.0 | 12.0 | – | |||
| Whole-meal flour | 13 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 30.0 | 12.0 | – | |||
| Test methods | ISO 6540 | ISO 5498 | ISO 2171 | ISO 1871 | ISO 16050 | ||||
In addition to the specifications in Table 1, specific requirements for self-raising wheat flour may contain the following:
Edible salt conforming to EAS 35.
The acid ingredients shall be one or any combination of the following:
The product shall contain only permitted additives complying with EAS 103.
3Improvers may be added singly or in combination, including but not limited to:
| Maximum permitted level | ||
| i) | ascorbic acid | 200 ppm; |
| ii) | potassium persulphate | 100 ppm; |
| iii) | ammonium persulphate | 250 ppm; |
| iv) | mono calcium phosphate | 2 500 ppm; |
| v) | chlorine dioxide | 30 ppm. |
| Maximum permitted level | ||
| i) | nitrogen peroxide | GMP; |
| ii) | benzoyl peroxide | 150 mg/kg |
| Maximum permitted level | ||
| i) | malt flour (milled from highly diastatic barley) | GMP; |
| ii) | fungal enzyme (amylozyne or MYL-X) | 45 mg/kg |
NOTE All food additives shall be of food grade quality.
Shall not be used at all.
Wheat flour shall be produced, prepared and handled in accordance with the provisions of appropriate sections of EAS 39.
When tested by appropriate methods of sampling and examination, the product:
The product shall be free from pathogenic micro-organism and shall comply with microbiological limits in Table 2.
| Sl. No. | Micro-organism | Maximum limit | Methods of test |
|---|---|---|---|
| (i) | Total aerobic count per g | 105 | EAS 217 |
| (ii) | E. Coli per 1 g | Not detectable | EAS 217 |
| (iii) | Salmonella per 25 g | Not detectable | EAS 217 |
| (iv) | Yeast and Moulds cfu/g | 104 | EAS 217 |
| (V) | S.aureus per 25 g | Not detectable | EAS 217 |
Wheat flour shall comply with those maximum limits for heavy metals established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission for this commodity.
Wheat flour shall comply with those maximum pesticide residue limits established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission for this commodity.
Note: where the use of certain pesticides is prohibited by some Partner States, then it shall be notified to all Partner States accordingly.
Wheat flour shall comply with those maximum mycotoxin limits established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission for this commodity. In particular, total aflatoxin levels in wheat grains for human consumption shall not exceed 10 µg/kg (ppb) with B1 not exceeding 5 µg/kg (ppb) when tested according to ISO 16050.
Wheat flour shall be packaged in containers which will safeguard the hygienic, nutritional, technological, and organoleptic qualities of the product.
The containers, including packaging material, shall be food grade.
When the product is packaged in sacks, these must be clean, sturdy and strongly sewn or sealed.
In addition to the requirements in EAS 38, each package shall be legibly and indelibly marked with the following:
Note: EAC partner states are signatory to the International Labour Organizations (ILO) for maximum package weight of 50kg where human loading and offloading is involved.
Sampling shall be done in accordance with the ISO 13690.
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