PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFT DRAFT UGANDA STANDARD  
  DUS DEAS  1029  
First   Edition  
2020 -mm-dd 
 
 Reference number  
DUS DEAS  1029 : 2020 
© UNBS 2020  
   
Rabbit meat (carcasses and cuts)  — Specification  
 
 PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFTDUS DEAS 1029: 2020  
ii                © UNBS  2020 - 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 2020 
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 
The Executive Director 
Uganda National Bureau of Standards 
P.O. Box 6329 
Kampala 
Uganda 
Tel: +256 417 333 250/1/2 
Fax: +256 414 286 123 
E-mail: info@unbs.go.ug  
Web: www.unbs.go.ug  
 PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFTDUS DEAS 1029: 2020  
© UNBS  2020 - 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 Enquiry 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 representatives of 
consumers, traders, academicians, manufacturers, government and other stakeholders. 
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 DEAS 1029: 2020,  Rabbit meat (carcasses and cuts)  — Specification , is 
identical with and has been reproduced from an East African Standard, DEAS 1029 : 2020, Rabbit meat 
(carcasses and cuts)   — Specification , and is being proposed for adoption as a Uganda Standard. 
The committee responsible for this document is Technical Committee UNBS/TC 2,  Food and agriculture , 
Subcommittee SC 12, Meat, poultry and processed products.  
 
This standard cancels and replaces US 2028:2019, Rabbit meat (carcasses and cuts) — Specification , which 
has been withdrawn. 
Wherever the words, “ East African Standard " appear, they should be replaced by "Uganda Standard." 
 
 
 
 
   DEAS 1029 : 2020 
ICS nn.nnn.nn  
© EAS 2020                                                                                                                              First Edition 2020  
 
DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD 
Rabbit meat (carcasses and cuts)  — Specification 
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY DEAS 1029:  2020 
ii © EAC  2020  – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice 
This EAC document is copyright-protected by EAC. While the reproduction of this document by 
participants in the EAC standards development process is permitted without prior permission from EAC, 
neither this document nor any extract from it may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form for 
any other purpose without prior written permission from EAC. 
Requests for permission to reproduce this document for the purpose of selling it should be addressed 
as shown below or to EAC’s member body in the country of the requester:  
© East African Community 2020  — 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.eac-quality.net 
Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement. 
Violators may be persecuted DEAS 1029:  2020  
© EAC 2020  – All rights res erved  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 (l evel 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  Subc lause (level  1) ................................ ................................ ....................Erro r! 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 ........................................................................................................................................................ 7  
 
 DEAS 1029:  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 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.  
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 procedures 
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 implementing .  
EAS nnn- n was prepared by Technical Committee EAS/TC 004, Meat, poultry, game, eggs and their products . 
 
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1029 :2020  
 
© EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  1 
 Rabbit meat (carcasses and cuts) — Specification  
1 Scope 
This Draft East African standard specifies the requirements, sampling and method of test for rabbit meat 
(carcass and cuts) 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 (including any amendments) applies. 
CAC/GL 50,  General guidelines on sampling 
CAC/MRL 2,  Maximum residue limits for veterinary drugs in food 
CAC/RCP 58 , Code of hygienic practice for meat 
CODEX STAN 192,  General standard for food additives 
EAS 38;  Labelling of pre-packaged foods — Specification 
EAS 39,  Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry — Code of practice  
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 5961, Water quality — Determination of cadmium by atomic absorption spectrometry 
ISO 6633,  Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Determination of lead content — Flameless atomic 
absorption spectrometric method  
ISO 6637 , Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Determination of mercury content — Flameless atomic 
absorption method 
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-positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) — Part 1: Technique using 
Baird-Parker agar medium  
ISO 7251,  Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection and 
enumeration of presumptive Escherichia coli — Most probable number technique  
ISO 7937,  Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
Clostridium perfringens — Colony count technique  
2 © EAC  2020  – All rights reserved  
 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 
ISO 16649- 1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the enumeration of beta-glucuronidase-
positive Escherichia coli — Part 1: Colony-count technique at 44 degrees C using membranes and 5-bromo-4-
chloro-3-indolyl beta-D-glucuronide  
ISO 17294- 2, Water quality — Application of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) — Part 
2: Determination of 62 elements  
ISO 17604,  Microbiology of the food chain — Carcass sampling for microbiological analysis  
OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code  
3 Terms and definitions 
For the purposes of this standard, the following terms and definitions shall 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  
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.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  
rabbit meat  
all parts of a rabbit that are intended for, or have been judged as safe and suitable for human consumption  
 
3.3  
boning  
means the removal of meat from bones of a carcass or a portion of carcass  
3.4  
dressing  
the removal of head, skin, viscera (including or excluding the kidneys) genital organs, bladder, feet up to the 
carpal and tarsal joints and for female animals, the mammary glands. 
4 Requirements 
4.1 Rabbits shall be slaughtered in a hygienically managed slaughter-house in accordance with CAC/RCP 
58. The slaughter shall be supervised by a competent authority an d shall be prepared in licensed premises.   
4.2 The carcass shall be certified as being sound and free from contagious and infectious diseases and fit 
for human consumption by a competent person.  
4.3 The certified carcasses and cuts shall bear suitable marks of such inspection, the symbol or number or 
name of the establishment where they were prepared, and the legend 'PASSED' denoting wholesomeness of 
the carcass. The marking fluid used shall be food grade ink.   
© EAC 2020  – All rights res erved  3 
 4.4 Cutting, trimming and boning of cuts shall be accomplished with sufficient care to maintain cut integrity 
and identity and to avoid scores in the lean. Ragged edges shall be removed close to the lean surfaces. 
Except for cuts that are separated through natural seams, all cross-sectional surfaces shall form approximate 
right angles with the skin surface. Minimal amounts of lean, fat, or bone may be included on a cut from an 
adjacent cut. For boneless cuts, all bones, cartilage, and visible surface lymph glands shall be removed. 
5 Quality characteristics of rabbit meat  
5.1 Carcasses and cuts  
Carcasses and cuts shall be:  
a) Intact, taking into account the presentation; 
b) Free from visible blood clots or bone dust; 
c) Free from any visible foreign matter (e.g. dirt, wood, plastic, metal particles); 
d) Free of offensive odours; 
e) Free of visible bloodstains; 
f) Free of unspecified protruding or broken bones; 
g) g. Free of bruises; 
h) Free of freezer-burn; 
i) Free of spinal cord (except for whole unsplit carcasses); and 
j) Free from fur. 
 
5.2 Grading carcasses  
For the purpose of this standard, the rabbit meat category shall be determined as follows in table 1; 
Table 1 — Grading of Rabbit meat carcasses  
SN Category  Description  
i)  Very young rabbit  Weaned rabbits four to five weeks  
ii)  Young rabbit  Less than 12 weeks of age  
iii)  Young mature rabbit  12 weeks to 6 months of age  
iv)  Mature rabbit  More than 6 months of age  
v)  Open doe  More than 6 months of age, unfertilized mature rabbit  
vi)  other  Can be used to describe any other category of rabbit  
  
4 © EAC  2020  – All rights reserved  
 6 Preparation of rabbit carcasses and cuts  
6.1 Rabbit carcasses shall be properly dressed, washed, butchered, trimmed, weighed, properly packaged 
and labelled and shall be free from bruises or blemishes of any kind. They shall also be neatly trimmed with 
head, feet, and all offal removed.  
6.2 Temperature treatment – rabbit carcasses and cuts shall be subjected to the following temperature 
treatment.  
6.1.1  Chilling – Fresh rabbit carcasses sides or cuts shall be brought to a temperature of between 1 ˚C and 
3 ˚C within 24 hours. Carcasses and cuts meant for chilling shall be further chilled to temperatures of - 2 ˚C to 
4 ˚C and should be consumed within a period of 4 weeks. 
6.1.2  Freezing and Storage – The rabbit carcasses sides or cuts shall be pre-chilled before freezing. 
Freezing shall be at minus (-) 18 ºC and (-) 12 ºC at the highest. The rabbit carcasses and cuts shall be stored 
at (-) 12 oC at the highest. The frozen product shall be consumed within 12 months  
6.3 Rabbit carcass and cuts may be presented according to the following in relation to temperature 
treatment:  
6.3.1  Fresh Carcass -The deepest part of the carcass near the bone shall be cooled to the atmospheric 
temperature when delivered and shall show no evidence of deterioration.  
6.3.2  Fresh, Chilled Carcass - The carcass shall be chilled so that the temperature at the deepest portion of 
the flesh near the bone shall be 1°C and shall show no evidence of deterioration.  
6.3.3  Fresh, Frozen Carcass -The rabbit meat shall be quick frozen preferably at a temperature of not 
higher than - 12oc for frozen and - 18oc for deep frozen in the minimum possible time and shall show no 
evidence of deterioration, such as dehydration and advanced changes in texture.  
6.3.4  Rabbit meat cuts, fresh -These shall be prepared from carcasses which conform to the requirements 
given in fresh carcass.  
7 Food additives  
Food additives, if used in rabbit meat shall comply with CODEX STAN 192. 
8 Contaminants  
8.1 Heavy metals  
Rabbit meat shall comply with maximum limits for heavy metals as specified in Table 2, when tested in 
accordance with the methods given therein.  
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   
© EAC 2020  – All rights res erved  5 
  
8.2 Veterinary drugs residues 
The Rabbit meat shall comply with the maximum residue limits specified in CAC/MRL 2. 
8.3 Pesticide residues 
Rabbit meat shall comply with the maximum pesticide residue limits as specified by the Codex Alimentarius 
Commission. 
9 Hygiene requirements  
9.1 Rabbit carcasses and cuts shall be produced and handled in accordance with CAC/RCP 58 and EAS 
39. 
9.2 Rabbit carcasses and cuts shall comply with the microbiological limits given in Table 2. 
              Table 3 — Microbiological limits for rabbit carcasses and cuts 
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 -1 
iv)  Escherichia Coli  0157:H7 per 25  g Absent  ISO 16654  
v)  Salmonella  spp, per 25 g  Absent  ISO 6579  
vi)  Clostridium perfringes , per 25 g  Absent  ISO 7937  
vii)  Listeria monocytogens , per 25 g,  Absent  ISO 11290 -1 
viii)  Campylobacter  per 25 g  102 ISO 102 72-1 
ix)  Pseudomonas aeruginosa, cfu/g  102 ISO 13720  
10  Packaging  
10.1 Packaging of Fresh, chilled and frozen rabbit meat shall be done in food grade packaging materials that 
protect the meat product from any physical, microbiological, chemical or any other type of contamination 
during storage, distribution and handling.  
10.2 Vacuum-packed cuts shall be delivered intact.  
11 Transportation 
Transportation of the products covered by this standard shall be in accordance with the relevant regulations of 
the partner states 
Chilled meat shall be handled and transported at temperature between 1 ˚C and 4 ˚C.  
Frozen meat shall be transported below - 12 ˚C and the packages shall be handled with  care to preserve 
quality and safety of the product.  
6 © EAC  2020  – All rights reserved  
 12 Labelling  
Each carcass inspected and passed as fit for human consumption shall bear an approval mark on a label 
attached to the package. In addition to the requirements given in EAS 38, the following labelling requirements 
shall apply and shall be legibly and indelibly labelled.  
a) name of the product “Rabbit meat”;  
b) name of the cut as appropriate  
c) rabbit carcasses and cuts grades  
d) name, and physical address of manufacturer ;  
e) net weight in metric unit;  
f) rabbit carcasses and cuts grades  
g) declaration of preservatives used;  
h) date of packaging;  
i) expiry  date;  
j) batch number;  
k) storage conditions;  
l) country of origin  
m) date; 
n) inspection stamp 
13 Sampling 
Sampling shall be done in accordance with CAC/GL 50 for general sampling and ISO 17604 for 
microbiological analysis.  
© EAC 2020  – All rights res erved  7 
 Bibliography 
[1]  
[2]  
[3]  
[4]  
[5]  
 DEAS 1029 : 2020    
 
© EAC 2020 – All rights reserved