DEAS 1186 : 2023 
                                                                         ICS 67.120.01 
 
© EAC 2023                                                                                                               First Edition 2023 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STARD  
Edible insects  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 1186 : 2023 
ii © EAC  2023 – All rights reserved  
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© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  iii 
 Contents  Page 
Foreword  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  iv 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
4 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  2 
4.1 General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
4.2 Specific requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  3 
4.3 Optional ingredients  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..............................  3 
5 Food additives  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ....... 3 
6 Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...................  3 
7 Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  4 
7.1 Heavy metal  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............  4 
7.2 Pesticides and residues  ................................ ................................ ................................ .......................  4 
7.3 Veterinary drugs residues  ................................ ................................ ................................ ....................  4 
7.4 Mycotoxins  ................................ ................................ ................................ .Error! Bookmark not defined.  
8 Packaging and labeling ................................ ................................ ................................ .........................  4 
8.1 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............  4 
8.2 Labeling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................  4 
8.3 Health claims  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  5 
9 Sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................  5 
Bibliography  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................  6 
 
 DEAS 1186 : 2023 
iv © EAC  2023 – All rights reserved  
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessitated by the need for harmonizing requirements 
governing quality of products and services in the East African Community. It is envisaged that through 
harmonized standardization, trade barriers that are encountered when goods and services are exchanged 
within the Community will be removed.  
The Community has established an East African Standards Committee  (EASC)  mandated to develop and 
issue East African Standards  (EAS) . The Committee is  composed of representatives of the National 
Standards Bodies in Partner States, together with the representatives from the public and private sector 
organizations  in the community .  
East African Standards are developed through  Technical Committees that are representative of key 
stakeholders including government, academia, consumer groups, private sector and other interested parties. 
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 Principles and procedures for development of East African Standards.  
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 .  
The committee responsible for this document is Technical Committee EASC/TC 004, Meat, poultry, ga me, 
eggs and related products.  
This second/third/… edition cancels and replaces the first/second/… edition (US nnn-n:yyyy), which has been 
technically revised.  
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be subject of patent 
rights. EAC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.                                                                                                                                 DEAS 1186 : 2023 
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  v 
  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1186 : 2023 
 
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  1 
 Edible insects  — Specification  
1 Scope   
This draft East African Standard specifies requirements, sampling and test methods for dried whole edible 
insect  and its powder  intended for human consumption . 
2 Normative references  
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requirements of this document.  For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
AOAC 971.21, Mercury in Food Flameless Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric method  
ISO 21527 -2 Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
yeasts and moulds — Part 2: Colony count technique in products with water activity less than or equal to 0,95  
ISO 10272 -1 Microbiology of the food chain  Horizontal method for detection and enumeration of 
Campylobacter spp.  Part 1: Detection method  
ISO 22964  Microbiology of the food chain  Horizontal method for the detection of Cronobacter spp.  
ISO 6579 , Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of Salmonella 
spp. species) – Part 1: Technique using Baird -Parker agar medium – Amendment 1: Inclusion of precision 
data  
ISO 6888 -2, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs – Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) – Part 2: Technique using rabbit 
plasma fibrinogen agar medium   
ISO 6888 -1, Microbiology of the food chain  Horizontal method for the enumeration of coagulase -positive 
staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species)  Part 1: Method using Baird -Parker agar medium  
EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packaged foods — General requirements  
EAS 39, Code of Hygiene Practice for Food and Drink Manufacturing Industry   
EAS 804 , Claims – General Requirements   
EAS 805 , Use of nutrition and health claims – Requirements  
ISO 1442 Meat and meat products – Determination of moisture content (Reference method)  
CX/GL 50 , General Guidelines on Sampling  
ISO 21527 -1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs - Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
yeasts and moulds - Part 1: Colony count technique in products with water activity greater than 0.95   
2 © EAC  2023 – All rights reserved  
 AOAC 972.25, Lead in food. Atomic absorption spectrophotometric method   
AOAC 952.13, Arsenic in food — Silver diethyldithiocarbamate method  
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.  
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp  
3.1  
Dried whole edible insects  
insects farmed or wild -harvested, intended for human food after processing to minimize contamination and 
improve palatability.  
3.2 
insect powder  
a particulate product ob tained after milling/grinding dried edible insects  
3.3  
insect paste  
a semisolid product obtained after milling/grinding edible insects  
3.4  
extraneous material   
any material that is not of that particular edible insect such as other species, castes, sand, stones, metallic 
chips, plant parts and pests.  
3.5  
food grade material  
materials that are free from substances that are hazardous to human health and therefore, may come in 
contact with food.  
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
4.1.1  Edible insec t shall be : 
a) produced from edible insect species  
b) produced from any suitable life stage  
c) presented in either whole or granulated or powder.  
d) of characteristic colour of the insect prepared  
e) free from adulterants, extraneous material and objectionable odour and taste  
f) free from pest infestation, mould growth.  
4.1.2  Edible insects may be whole or with some body parts removed.  
4.1.3  Acceptable food grade ingredients and seasonings may be used.   
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  3 
 4.2 Specific requirements  
Whole e dible insects  and insect flour shall comply with the specific requirements  given in Table 1 when tested  
in accordance with the test methods given therein .  
Table 1  — Specific requirements for dried whole edible insects and  its powder  
S/n Parameter  Dried Whole 
insects  Insect 
powder  
 Test method  
 Moisture content,  % m/m, max   13  13 ISO 1442   
 Fatty acidity, mg KOH/100g  N/A 80 ISO 7305  
 Acid insoluble ash, max, %, m/m  N/A 1 ISO 5985  
 
 
4.3 Optional ingredients  
Edible insect products may contain other food ingredients to enhance flavour and palatability such as edible 
salt, seasonings and herbs complying with relevant standards  
5 Food additives  
Food Additives shall comply with the respective maximum levels  specified in Codex Stan 192  if used in edible 
whole insects  or its powd er 
6 Hygiene  
6.1 edible whole insects or its powder  shall be prepared under strict hygienic conditions according to EAS 
39  
6.2 edible whole insects or its powder  shall not exceed microbiological limits indicated in Table 2, when 
tested in accordance with the test methods specified therein  
Table 2 — Microbiological limits for dried whole edible insect and its powder  
S/N Characteristic  Limit  Test Method  
i)  Total plate count, cfu/g , max.  105 ISO 4833  (Part 1 or 2)  
ii)  Escherichia  coli, cfu/g  Absent  ISO  16649 -2 
iii)  Cronobacter spp.  Enterobacter  sakazakii) 
cfu/10g  Absent  ISO 22964  
iv)  Staphylococcus aureus , cfu/g  Absent  ISO 6888  (Part 1 or 2)  
v)  Campylobacter, cfu/25g  Absent   ISO 10272 -1 
vi)  Salmonella  spp. per 25g  Absent  ISO 6579  
vii)  Yeast and moulds, cfu/g, max  103 ISO 21527 -2   
4 © EAC  2023 – All rights reserved  
 7 Contaminants  
7.1 Heavy metal  
edible whole insects or its powder  shall not contain any heavy metal in excess of the quantities specified in 
Table 3.  
Table 3 — Maximum limits of heavy metals in dried whole edible insects  and its powder   
S/No.  Heavy metals  Maximum limits  (ppm)  Test method  
i Arsenic (As)  [0.1] AOAC 952.13   
ii Lead (Pb)  [0.5] AOAC 972.25  
iii Cadmium (Cd)  [0.4] AOAC 973.34  
iv Mercury (Hg)  [0.01] AOAC 971.21  
 
7.2 Pesticides and residues   
Edible insects shall comply with maximum pesticide residue limits set by Codex Alimentarius Commission . 
7.3 Veterinary drugs residues  
Edible insect s and edible insect flour shall comply with the maximum veterinary drugs residue limits in 
CX/MRL 2  
8 Packaging  and labelling   
8.1 Pack aging  
Edible insects shall be packaged in food grade materials which will safeguard the hygienic, nutritional, 
integrity, technological, and organoleptic properties, throughout shelf life of the product . 
8.2 Labeling  
In addition to the labelling requirements prescribed in EAS 38 edible insects shall be legibly and indelibly 
labelled with the following information:  
a) Name of the product such as “dried whole insect” or “dried powdered insects” or “dried milled insects” 
or “fried insect products” or “ grinded/ground insect product” etc;  
b) Declare the insect by common name and biological name in brackets,  
c) Name and physical address of the processor/packer;  
d) Batch or code number;  
e) Net weight in metric units;  
f) Date of packaging;  
g) the life stage of edible insect used  
h) Expiry date;   
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  5 
 i) Storage instructions;  
j) Country of origin;  
9. Health claims  
Any health and/or nutrition claim on dried  whole edible insect  and it s powder  shall conform to the provisions of  
EAS 804 and EAS 805.  
10 Sampling  
Sampling of edible insects shall be done according to C X/GL 50 .  
6 © EAC  2023 – All rights reserved  
 Bibliography  
TZS 3184 , Edible insects – Specifications   
 
. DEAS 1186 : 2023   
 
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved