PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFTDRAFT UGANDA STANDARDDUS DARS  1116  
First Edition 
2023-m m-dd
Reference number  
DUS DARS  1116 : 2023 
© UNBS 2023  Quick frozen prawns or shrimps — Specification  
 PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFTDUS DARS  1116 : 2023  
ii                © UNBS  2023  - All rights reserved  
 Compliance with this standard does not, of itself confer immunity from legal obligations  
A Uganda Standard does not purport to include all necessary provisions of a contract. Users are 
responsible for its correct application  
© UNBS 2023 
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any 
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without prior written 
permission from UNBS.  
Requests for permission to reproduce this document should be addressed to  
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 PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFTDUS DARS  1116 : 2023  
© UNBS  2023  - All rights reserved                 iii National foreword  
Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) is a parastatal under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and 
Cooperatives established under Cap 327, of the Laws of Uganda, as amended.  UNBS is mandated to co -
ordinate the elaboration of standards and is  
(a) a member of International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and  
(b) a contact point for the WHO/FAO Codex Alimentarius Commission on Food Standards, and  
(c) the National Enqui ry Point on TBT Agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).  
The work of preparing Uganda Standards is carried out through Technical Committees. A Technical 
Committee is established to deliberate on standards in a given field or area and consists of ke y stakeholders 
including government, academia, consumer groups, private sector and other interested parties.  
Draft Uganda Standards adopted by the Technical Committee are widely circulated to stakeholders and the 
general public for comments. The committee  reviews the comments before recommending the draft standards 
for approval and declaration as Uganda Standards by the National Standards Council.  
This Draft Uganda Standard, DUS DARS  1116 :2023 , Quick frozen prawns or shrimps — Specification , is 
identical with and has been reproduced from a  Draft  African  Standard,  DARS 1116 :2023 , Quick frozen prawns 
or shrimps — Specification , and is being proposed for adoption as a Uganda Standard.  
The committee responsible for this document is Te chnical Committee UNBS/ TC 211, Fish and fishery 
products . 
Wherever the words, “ African  Standard " appear, they should be replaced by "Uganda Standa rd." 
AFRICAN 
STANDARD  DARS  
1116 
First Edition 2023 
 
 Reference No. DARS 1116:2023(E) 
 
ICS 67.120.30  
 
 
©ARSO 20 23 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Quick frozen prawns or shrimps — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DARS 1116:2023 
ii ©ARSO 20 23 — All rights reserved   
Table of contents  
 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ........  2 
4 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ .....................  2 
4.1 General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ . 2 
4.2  Specific requirements ................................ ................................ ................................ . 2 
5 Presentation  ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................  2 
6 Food additives  ................................ ................................ ................................ ....................  2 
7 Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..............................  3 
8 Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ .....................  3 
8.1 Heavy metals  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..............  3 
8.2 Pesticid e and veterinary drug residues  ................................ ................................ ....... 3 
9 Weights and measures ................................ ......................  Error! Bookmark not defined.  
10 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  3 
11 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  3 
12 Sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  4 
Bibliography  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..............................  5 
 
  DARS 1 116:2023 
© ARSO 20 23 — All rights reserved  iii Foreword  
 
The African Organization for Standardization (ARS O) is an African intergovernmental organization 
established by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Organization of 
African Unity (AU)  in 1977 . One of the fundamental mandates of ARS O is to develop and harmoniz e 
African Standards (ARS) for the purpose of enhancing Africa’s internal trading capacity, increase 
Africa’s product and service competitiveness globally and uplift the welfare of African communities.  The 
work of preparing African  Standards is normally carried out through ARSO  technical committees. Each 
Member State  interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the 
right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, Regional Economic Communities 
(RECs), governmental and non -governmental  organizations , in liaison with ARSO , also take part in the 
work.  
 
ARSO  Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.  
 
The main task of techn ical committees is to prepare ARSO  Standards. Draft ARSO  Standards adopted 
by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an ARSO  
Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.  
 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of 
patent rights. ARSO  shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  
 
This African Standard was prepared by ARSO/TC 03, Fish,  fisheries and aquaculture . 
 
 
 
 
 
© African Organisation for Standardisation  2022 — All rights reserved* 
 
ARSO Central Secretariat  
International House 3rd Floor  
P. O. Box 57363 — 00200 City Square  
NAIROBI, KENYA  
 
Tel. +254 -20-2224561, +254 -20-3311641, +254 -20-3311608  
 
E-mail: arso@arso -oran.org  
Web: www.arso -oran.org  
  
                                                 
* © 2022 ARSO — All rights of exploitation reserved worldwide for African Member States’ NSBs.  DARS 1116:2023 
iv ©ARSO 20 23 — All rights reserved   
Copyright notice  
 
This ARSO document is copyright -protected by ARSO. While the reproduction of this document 
by participants in the ARSO standards development process is permitted without prior permission 
from ARSO, neither this document nor any extract from it may be reproduced, stored or 
transmitted in any form for any ot her purpose without prior written permission from ARSO.  
 
Requests for permission to reproduce this document for the purpose of selling it should be 
addressed as shown below or to ARSO’s member body in the country of the requester:  
 
 
© African Organisation for Standardisation 20 22 — All rights reserved  
 
ARSO Central Secretariat  
International House 3rd Floor  
P.O. Box 57363 — 00200 City Square  
NAIROBI, KENYA  
 
Tel: +254 -20-2224561, +254 -20-3311641, +254 -20-3311608  
 
E-mail: arso@arso -oran.org  
Web: www.arso -oran.org  
 
Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement. 
Violators  may be p rosecuted.  
 
 
 
  DARS 1 116:2023 
© ARSO 20 23 — All rights reserved  v Introduction  
 
<Text indicating rationale for the development/harmonization of the standard>  
 
 DARS 1 116:2023 
©ARSO 20 23 — All rights reserved  1  
Quick frozen prawns or shrimps — Specification  
 
 
1 Scope  
 
.  
This African standard specifies Quality and Safety requirement, sampling and Test method for quick and 
frozen prawns or shrimps intended for human consumption  
2 Normative references  
 
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated 
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced 
document (incl uding any amendments) applies.  
 
AOAC 952.13, Arsenic in food ― Silver diethyldibocarbamate method  
 
AOAC 972.23, Lead in fish ― Atomic absorption spectrophotometric method  
 
AOAC 973.34, Cadmium in food ― Atomic absorption spectrophotometric method  
 
AOAC 983 .20, Mercury (methyl) in fish and shellfish ― Gas chromatographic method  
 
CAC/GL 50, General guideline on sampling  
 
CAC/RCP 52, Code of practice for fish and fishery products  
 
CODEX STAN 192, General standard for food additives  
 
WHO International Guideline  for Drinking water quality  
 
CODEXSTAN I - 1985 Labelling of pre -packaged foods — Requirements  
 
African Organisation for Standardization (ARSO) 53, General Principles of food  
hygiene - Code of practice 2012(E).  
 
ISO 4833 -1, Microbiology of food chain — Horizontal method for the enumeration of microorganisms 
— Part 1: Colony -count at 30 degrees C by the pour plate technique  
 
ISO 6579, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of 
Salmonella spp.  
 
ISO 6888 (all par ts), Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the 
enumeration of coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) — Part 1: 
Technique using Baird -Parker agar medium  
 
ISO 16649 -3, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the enumeration of beta -
glucuronidase -positive Escherichia coli — Part 3: Detection and most probable number technique using 
5-bromo -4-chloro -3-indolyl -ß-D-glucuronide  
 
ISO/TS 21872 (all parts),  Microbiology of food and a nimal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the 
detection of potentially enteropathogenic Vibrio spp . 
 
 
 
 
 
AFRICAN STANDARD  DARS 1 116:2023 
2 ©ARSO 20 23 — All rights reserved  3 Terms and definitions  
 
For the purpose of this standard the following  terms and  definition s apply . 
 
3.1  
foreign matter  
any undesirable material which is not of prawns or shrimp origin such as sand, stones and metallic 
chips  
 
3.2 
prawn/shrimp  
small swimming aquatic crustacean with an elongated body  
 
 
4 Requirements  
 
4.1 General requirements   
 
a. have colour characteristic of the species and habit at; and 
 
       b. be free from dehydration, black spots, blackening or other abnormal discolouration.  
 
 
c, The product shall be clean, free from foreign matter and practically free from extraneous matter .  
 
 
4.2  Specific requirements  
 
4.2.1   The product after thawing shall have characteristic fresh appearance and  free from off flavour 
and odour.  
 
4.2.2   The product shall be maintained at a temperature of -18 ºC or lower.  
 
5 Presentation  
 
The product may be presented as:  
 
a) whole - head, shell and tail fins on;  
 
b) headless - head removed, shell and tail fins on;  
 
c) peeled (tail fins on) - head removed, shell removed down to the last segment. The shell on the 
last segment and the tail fins to be present. Peeled products can be f urther presented as:  
 
i) peeled and deveined - prepared as in c), the back of the peeled segments have been cut 
open and the vein and/or gut removed; and  
 
ii) fantail (split or cutlet) - In addition to the preparations in c), the peeled segments have been 
split longitudinally through the dorsal axis, laid open and the vein (gut) removed;   
 
d) peeled (with tail fins removed) - The head, at the shell including tail fins have been removed 
and peeled (with tail fins removed) and deveined whereby in addition to the  preparation as 
described for peeled (with tail fins removed),  the back has been cut open and the vein and /or  
gut removed; and  
 
e) any other forms provided they are adequately described on the label.  
 
6 Food additives  
 DARS 1 116:2023 
©ARSO 20 23 — All rights reserved  3 Food additives may be used in the pre paration of the product in accordance with CODEX STAN 192.  
 
7 Hygiene  
 
The product shall be prepared and handled in accordance with CAC/RCP 52 and shall comply with 
microbiological limits given in Table 1 . 
 
Table 1 — Microbiological limits  for quick frozen prawns or shrimps  
 
S/No.  Type of micro -organism  Limits  Test method  
i) Total viable count, CFU/g, max.  105 ISO 4833  
ii) Escherichia coli , MPN/g, max . 10 ISO 16649 -3 
iii) Salmonella spp. per 25 g  Absent  ISO 6579  
iv) Coagulase positive Staphylococci , 
CFU/g, max . 2 x 103 ISO 6888  
v) Vibro spp.  Absent  ISO/TS 21872  
 
8 Contaminants  
 
8.1 Heavy metals  
 
The product shall comply with the heavy metal limits given in Table 2.  
 
Table 2 — Heavy metal limits for quick frozen prawns or shrimps  
 
S/No  Heavy metal  Maximum limit,  
mg/kg  Test method  
i) Arsenic  0.1 AOAC 952.13  
ii) Lead  0.5 AOAC 972.23  
iii) Cadmium  0.5 AOAC 973.34  
iv) Methyl mercury  0.5 AOAC 983.20  
 
8.2 Pesticide and veterinary drug residues  
 
The product shall comply with the maximum residual limits for pesticides and veterinary drug residues 
established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.  
 
 
9 Packaging  
 
The product  shall be packaged in food grade containers which will safeguard the hygienic, nutritional, 
and organoleptic qualities of the product.  
 
10 Labelling  
 
In addition to the requirements in ARS 56 , following requirements  shall apply  
 
a) name of the product shall be " Quick frozen prawns or shrimps”;  
 
b) the form of presentation (see Clause 5);   
 
c) net content, exclusive of the glaze;  
 
d) name and address of the processor, packer or exporter or vendor of the product;  
 
e) production date;  
 
f) Best Before  date;  DARS 1 116:2023 
4 ©ARSO 20 23 — All rights reserved   
g) batch number;  
 
h) storage conditions;  
 
i) instruction for use ;  
 
j) Country  of origin.  
 
12 Sampling  
 
Sampling shall be done in accordance with CAC/GL 50.  
 
  DARS 1 116:2023 
©ARSO 20 23 — All rights reserved  5  
Bibliography  
 
 
 
 
 DARS 1 116:2023 
©ARSO 20 23 — All rights reserved