DEAS 1026 : 2020  
ICS nn.nnn.nn  
© EAS 2020                                                                                                                               First Edition 2020   
 
DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Minced meat  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 1026 : 2020  
ii © EAC  2020  – All rights reserved  
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Violators may be persecuted  DEAS 1026 : 2020 
© EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Contents  Page 
Foreword  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  iv 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  1 
2 Conformance  ................................ ................................ ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.  
3 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  1 
4 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
5 Symbols (and abbreviated terms)  ................................ ............................ Error! Bookmark not defined.  
6 Clause  ................................ ................................ ................................ ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
6.1 Subclause (level  1) ................................ ................................ .................... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
6.1.1 Subclause (level  2) ................................ ................................ .................... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
6.1.2 Subclause (level  2) ................................ ................................ .................... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
6.2 Subclause (level  1) ................................ ................................ .................... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
7 Clause  ................................ ................................ ................................ ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
8 Special  ................................ ................................ ................................ ........ Error! Bookmark not defined.  
Annex  A (normative)  Annex title  ................................ ................................ .......... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
A.1 General  ................................ ................................ ................................ .......Error! Bookmark not defined.  
A.2 Clause  ................................ ................................ ................................ ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
A.2.1  Subclause (level  1) ................................ ................................ .................... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
A.2.2  Subclause (level  1) ................................ ................................ .................... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
A.3 Clause  ................................ ................................ ................................ ......... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
Annex  B (informative)  Which styles correspond to which element  — Quick reference guide Error! Bookmark not defined.  
Bibliography  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................  6 
 
 DEAS 1026 : 2020  
iv © EAC  2020  – 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 Eas t 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.  
In order to achieve this objective, the Community established an East African Standards Committee mandated 
to develop and issue East African Standards.   
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 procedure s 
of the Community.  
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 implementin g.  
EAS nnn-n was prepared by Technical Committee EAS/TC 004, Meat, poultry, game, eggs and their products . 
 
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1026 :2020  
 
© EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  1 
 Minced meat  — Specification  
1 Scope  
This Draft East African Standard specifies  requirements, sampling and test methods for minced meat 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 
docu ment (including any amendments) applies.  
AOAC 2011.04 , Protein in raw and processed meats . Automated dye -binding method  
CAC/GL 50,  General guidelines on sampling  
CAC/MRL 2 , Maximum residue limits for veterinary drugs in food  
CAC/RCP 58 , Code of hygienic pr actice for m eat 
EAS 38;  Labelling of pre -packaged foods — Specification  
EAS 39,  Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry — Code of practice  
ISO 936 , Meat and meat products — Determination of total ash  
ISO 1443 , Meat and meat products — Determi nation of total fat content  
ISO 4833 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the enumeration of microorganisms — 
Part 1: Colony count at 30 degrees C by the pour plate technique  
ISO 6633,  Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Determin ation of lead content — Flameless atomic 
absorption spectrometric method  
ISO 6637, Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Determination of mercury content — Flameless atomic 
absorption method  
ISO 5961, Water quality — Determination of cadmium by atomic absorption spectrometry  
ISO 6579,  Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of Salmonella 
spp.  
ISO 6888 -1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
coagulase -posit ive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) — Part 1: Technique using 
Baird -Parker agar medium  
ISO 7937,  Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
Clostridium perfringens — Colony count techni que DEAS 1026 : 2020  
2 © EAC  2020  – All rights reserved  
 ISO 17294 -2, Water quality — Application of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP -MS) — Part 
2: Determination of 62 elements  
ISO 10272 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for detection and enumeration of 
Campylobacter spp.  — Part 1: Detection method  
ISO 11290 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the detection and enumeration of 
Listeria monocytogenes and of Listeria spp. — Part 1: Detection method  
OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code  
ISO/TS 17728,  Microbi ology of the food chain — Sampling techniques for microbiological analysis of food and 
feed samples  
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of this standard, the following terms and definitions shall apply . 
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases fo r use in standardization at the following addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp  
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electrop edia.org/  
3.1  
meat  
parts of an animal that are intended for and have been judged as safe and suitable for, human consumption ” 
3.2  
poultry  
domesticated birds including chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, guinea -fowls quail or pigeons  
3.3  
offal  
parts of  the slaughtered animal such as blood, brain stem, heart, kidney, liver, pancreas, spleen, thymus, 
tongue and tripe, but excludes meat flesh, bone and bone marrow’’  
3.4  
edible offals  
those that are fit for human consumption such as the heart, tongue, tri pe, kidney and liver  
3.5  
meat flesh  
skeletal muscle of any slaughtered animal, and any attached animal rind; fat; connective tissue; nerve; blood; 
blood vessels; and skin, in the case of poultry  
3.6  
fresh meat  
meat that has not been subjected to any preserving process other than chilling, freezing, vacuum -wrapping 
and wrapping in a controlled atmosphere  
3.7  
minced meat  
boneless meat that has been reduced into fragments/particles.   DEAS 1026 : 2020 
© EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  3 
 3.8  
meat preparations   
fresh meat, including minced meat which has h ad foodstuffs, seasonings or additives added to it; or fresh 
meat which has undergone processes insufficient to modify the internal muscle fibre structure of the meat and 
thus to eliminate the characteristics of fresh meat  
3.9  
meat products  
products res ulting from the processing of meat or from the further processing of such processed products, so 
that the cut surface shows that the product no longer has the characteristics of fresh meat  
 
3.10  
other products of animal origin; co products  
parts of anim als that are unsuitable for human consumption when they are produced at the slaughterhouse, 
but which can later be processed for use in human food such as hides and skins (later processed into gelatine 
and collagen), sheep, goat and pig intestines processe d into sausage casings, and omental fat processed into 
lard  
3.11  
food grade material  
materials that are free from substances that are hazardous to human health and may be permitted to come in 
contact with food  
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
4.1.1 Minced meat shall be made from meat flesh . All meat, used to produce minced meat shall meet the 
requirements for fresh meat. Such meat shall have come from premises approved in accordance with 
CAC/RCP 58. The meat shall have a health stamp or mark.  
4.1.2 Minced meat shall be free from foreign matter such as hair, metal chips, glass splinters, bone 
splinters, wood splinters, sawdust and dust.  
4.1.3  Minced meat shall not contain added water or other ingredients . 
4.2 Specific requirements  
Minced meat  shall comply with the compositional requirements as specified in table 1 when tested with the 
methods provided therein  
Table 1 — Compositional requirements for minced meat  
S/N Characteristics  Limits for final product (raw)  Test method  
i)  Total meat content, min.  50 AOAC 2011.04  
ii)  Fat content, max.  30 ISO 1443  
iii)  Total ash, max.  3.0 ISO 936  DEAS 1026 : 2020  
4 © EAC  2020  – All rights reserved  
 5 Contaminants  
5.1 Heavy metals  
Minced meat  shall comply with maximum l imits for heavy metals as specified in Table 2, when tested in 
accordance with the methods given therei n.  
Table 2 — Maximum limits of heavy metals  
S/No.  Heavy metals  Maximum limits  
ppm  Test method  
i)  Arsenic (Ar)  0.1 ISO 17294 -2 
ii)  Lead (Pb)  0.1 ISO 6633  
iii)  Cadmium (Cd)  0.05 ISO 5961  
iv)  Mercury (Hg)  0.03 ISO 6637  
 
5.2 Veterinary drug residues  
Minced meat  shall comply with the maximum drug residue limits specified in CAC/MRL 2 . 
5.3 Pesticide residues  
Minced meat  shall comply with the maximum pesticide residue limits as specified by the Codex Alimentarius 
Commission . 
6 Hygiene requirements  
6.1 Minced meat shal l be produced and handled in accordance with CAC/RCP 58, EAS 39 and OIE 
Terrestrial Animal Health Code  
6.2 Minced meat shall comply with microbiological limits given in Table 3 when tested in accordance with 
the test methods specified therein.  
Table 3 — Microbiological limits for minced meat  
S/No.  Microorganism  Limits,  
Max.  Test method  
i Total plate count, cfu/g  105 ISO 4833 -1  
ii Staphylococcus aureas , cfu/g  103 ISO 6888 -1  
iii Escherichia Coli , cfu/g  102 ISO 16649 -2 
iv Escherichia Coli  0157:H7 per 25  g Absent  ISO 16654  
v Salmonella  spp, per 25 g  Absent  ISO 6579  
vi Clostridium perfringes per 25g Absent  ISO 7937  
vii Listeria monocytogens , per 25 g,  Absent  ISO 11290 -1 
viii Campylobacter  per 25 g  Absent  ISO 10272 -1 
 DEAS 1026 : 2020 
© EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  5 
 7 Packaging  
Minced meat shall b e packaged in food grade material which will safeguard the hygienic, nutritional, 
technological, and organoleptic qualities of the product.  
The material, including  packaging material, shall be made of substances which are safe and suitable for their 
intend ed use. They shall not impart any toxic substance or undesirable odour or flavour to the product.  
8 Labelling  
 
8.1 Minced meat shall be labelled in accordance with the requirements of EAS 38.  
8.2 In addition to 8.1, the following specific requirements sh all apply and shall be legibly and indelibly 
marked:  
a) the name “Minced meat” shall be declared on the label;  
b) the name shall be accompanied by a word describing the kind of meat used for example "Pork minced 
meat", or Beef minced meat";  
c) expiry date;  
d) storage and distribution instructions;  
e) the name and physical address of the producer shall be declared;  
f) production date;  
g) batch number; and  
h) net weight.  
9 Sampling  
Sampling shall be carried out in accordance with CAC/GL 50. For microbial analysis samples s hall be carrie d 
out in accordance with ISO/TS 17728.  
 DEAS 1026 : 2020  
6 © EAC  2020  – All rights reserved  
 Bibliography  
[1] Code of Federal Regulations 9 CFR 319 , Definitions and standards of identity or composition   
[2] CAC/RCP 58 -2005, Code of hygienic practice for meat  
 DEAS 1026 : 2020    
 
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