DRAFT UGANDA STANDARDDUS DARS  1117  
First Edition 
2023-m m-dd
Reference number  
DUS DARS  1117 : 2023 
© UNBS 2023  Smoked fish, smoke -flavoured and smoke -dried fish — Specification   
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  
The Executive Director  
Uganda National Bureau of Standards  
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© 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  1117 :2023 , Smoked fish, smoke -flavoured and smoke -dried fish — 
Specification , is identical with and has been reproduced from a  Draft  African  Standard,  DARS 1117 :2023 , 
Smoked fish, smoke -flavoured and smoke -dried fish — 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  
1117 
First Edition 2023 
 
 Reference No. DARS 1117:2023(E) 
ICS 67.120.30  
 
 
© ARSO 20 23 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Smoked fish, smoke -flavoured and smoke -dried fish — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DARS 1 117:2023 
ii ©ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved   
Table of contents  
 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .............  2 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ .....................  2 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ .....................  3 
4 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 4 
4.1 General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............  4 
4.2 Specific requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............  4 
5 Food additives  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................  4 
6 Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..........  4 
7 Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 5 
7.1 Heavy metals  ................................ ................................ ................................ .........................  5 
7.2 Pesticide residues  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................  5 
8 Weights and measures  ................................ ................................ ... Error! Bookmark not defined.  
9 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ....... 5 
10 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  5 
11 Sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  6 
Bibliography  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............  7 
 
  DARS 1 117:2023 
iii ©ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  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 ARSO 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 technical committees is to prepare ARSO  Standards. Draft ARSO  Standards adopted 
by the technical co mmittees 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 su bject 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  2023 — 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  
  
                                                 
*©2023 ARSO — All rights of exploitation reserved worldwide for African Member States’ NSBs.  DARS 1 117:2023 
iv ©ARSO 2023 — 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 other purpose without prior written permission from ARSO.  
 
Requests for permission to repro duce 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 23 — 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 1 117:2023 
2 ©ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved   
Smoked fish, smoke -flavoured and smoke -dried fish — Specification  
 
1 Scope  
 
This draft African Standard specifies quality and safety requirements, test methods a nd sampling for 
smoked, smoke -flavoured and smoke -dried fish  products.  It includes  whole fish, fillets , and sliced  fish. 
 
The standard applies to fish, either for direct human consumption , further processing, or for addition 
into speciality or minced products where fish constitutes only part of the edible contents.  
 
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 amen dments) applies.  
 
AOAC 952.13, Arsenic in food ― Silver diethyldibocarbamate method  
 
AOAC 972.23, Lead in fish ― Atomic absorption spectrophotometric method  
 
AOAC 977.13, Histamine in sea food — Fluorometric method  
 
AOAC 973.34, Cadmium in food ― Atomic  absorption spectrophotometric method  
 
AOAC 983.20, Mercury (methyl) in fish and shellfish― Gas chromatographic method  
 
ARS 53, General principles of food hygiene — Code of practice  
 
ARS 56, Prepackaged foods — Labelling  
 
CAC/GL 50, General guideline on sa mpling  
 
CAC/RCP 52, Code of practice for fish and fishery products  
 
ISO 1442, Meat and meat products — Determination of moisture content (Reference method)  
 
ISO 4833 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the enumeration of microorganism s 
— Part 1: Colony -count technique 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 parts), Microbiology of food and animal feeding  stuffs — Horizontal method for the 
enumeration of coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species)  
 
ISO 16649 -3, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the enumeration of beta -
glucuronidase -positive Escherichia co li — Part 3: Detection and most probable number technique using 
5-bromo -4-chloro -3-indolyl -ß-D-glucuronide  
 
ISO/TS 17919, Microbiology of the food chain — Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection of 
food-borne pathogens — Detection of botulinum ty pe A, B, E and F neurotoxin -producing clostridia  
 
ISO 17993, Water quality — Determination of 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in water by 
HPLC with fluorescence detection after liquid — Liquid extraction  
 
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  
 
AFRICAN STANDARD  DARS 1 117:2023 
3 ©ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  ISO/TS 21872 (all parts ), Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal met hod for the 
detection of potentially enteropathogenic Vibrio spp.  
 
3 Terms and definitions  
 
For the purpose of this standard the following definition s apply . 
 
3.1 
smoking  
process of treating fish by exposing it to smoke  
 
3.2 
hot smoking  
process at which fish is smoked at an appropriate combination of temperature and time sufficient to 
cause complete coagulation of protein in the fish flesh  
 
3.3  
cold smoking  
process of treating fish with a smoke using a time/temperature combination that will not cause sig nificant 
coagulation of the proteins in the fish flesh but that will cause substantial reduction of the water activity  
 
3.4  
wholesome/sound  
free from physiological deterioration or adulteration/contamination, that appreciably affects quality of 
the fish  
 
3.5  
smoke flavours  
either smoke condensates or artificial smoke flavour blends prepared by mixing chemically defined 
substances in known amounts or any combination of both and can be applied by any technology (for 
example, dipping, spraying, injecting, soaking)  
 
3.6 
smoke condensates  
products obtained by controlled thermal degradation of wood in a limited supply of oxygen (pyrolysis), 
subsequent condensation of the resultant smoke vapours and fractionation of the resulting liquid 
products  
 
3.7 
smoke -flavoured fish  
product prepared from fish that has been treated with smoke flavours, without undergoing a smoking 
process  
 
3.8  
smoke dried fish  
product prepared from fish that has undergone a combined smoking and drying process and may 
include salting  
 
3.9 
smoked fish  
fish that has undergone a hot or cold smoking process  
 
3.10  
foreign matter  
any undesirable material which is not of fish origin such as sand, stones and metallic chips  
 
3.11 
drying  DARS 1 117:2023 
4 ©ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  a process in which the moisture content in the fish is decreased to appropriate required 
characteristics under controlled hygienic conditions.  
3.12 
salting  
a process of treating fish with salt of food grade quality to lower water activity in fish flesh 
and to enhance flavour by any appropriate salting technolo gy (e.g. dry salting, brining, 
injection salting).  
 
4 Requirements  
 
4.1 General requirements  
 
4.1.1  Fish used shall be obtained or prepared from any fish species which is sound and wholesome, 
fresh, chilled or frozen and fit for human consumption.  
 
4.1.2  Other ingredients used such as salt, seasoning and condiments, herbs and spices and smoke 
flavours shall be of food grade quality and comply with relevant African standards.  
 
4.1.3  Smoking materials may include  wood or other plant material and shall not co ntain toxic 
substances either naturally contained in the material or through contamination, or after being treated 
with chemicals, paint or impregnating materials. Smoking materials shall be handled in a way to avoid 
contamination of food with  Polycyclic A romatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) from  smoking and direct drying 
processes.  
4.1.4  Fish used shall be free from foreign matter;  
 
4.1.5  Fish used shall be free from off flavour and objectionable odours;  
        
4.1.6  Fish used shall not exhibiting any sourness whatsoever; and  
          
4.1.7  Fish used shall be of desirable texture  
 
4.2 Specific requirements  
 
4.2.1  The product shall comply with the requirements given in Table 1 when tested in accordance 
with the methods specified therein.   
 
Table 1 — Specific requirements for smoked fish, smoke -flavoured fish and smoke -dried fish  
 
S/N Parameter  Limit  Test method  
i Histamine, mg/kg  100 AOAC 977.13  
ii Moisture content, %, max. a 10 ISO 1442  
iii Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH), µg/kg b 5 ISO 17993  
a This parameter is only applicable to smoke dried fish.  
b This parameter is only applicable to smoked fish and smoke -dried fish  
 
5 Food additives  
 
Food additives used in the product shall be in accordance with CODEX STAN 192.  
 
6 Hygiene  
 
The product shall be prepared and handled in accordance with ARS 53  and CAC/RCP 52 and shall 
comply with microbiological limits given in Table 2.  
 DARS 1 117:2023 
5 ©ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  Table 2 — Microbiological limits for smoked fish, smoke -flavoured fish and smoke –dried fish  
 
S/No.  Microorga nism  Limit  Test method  
1 Salmonella  spp. per 25 g  Absent  ISO 6579  
2 Escherichia coli , MPN/g, max.  10 ISO 16649 -3 
3 Coagulase positive Staphylococci, CFU/g, max.  103 ISO 6888  
4 Total viable count, cfu/g, max.  105 ISO 4833 -1 
5 Yeast and moulds, cfu/g, max.  103 ISO 21527 -1 
6 Vibrio spp,  Absent  ISO/TS 21872  
7 Clostridium.  botulinumc Absent  ISO/TS 17919  
8 Listeria monocytogenesd,  cfu/g  Absent in 25  
100e ISO 11290 -1 
ISO 11290 -2 
  c.      This requirement applies to vacuum -packaged products only.  
  d.       This requirement is for RTE (ready to eat) foods that are able t o support its growth at the    
            end of manufacture  
  e.      This requirement is  for RTE (ready to eat) foods that are unable to support its growth at the point of  
             entry and point of sale or both  
 
 
7 Contaminants  
 
7.1 Heavy metals  
 
The product shall comply with the heavy metal limits given in Table 3.  
 
Table 3 — Heavy metal limits for smoked fish, smoke -flavoured fish and smoke -dried fish  
 
S/No.  Parameter  Maximum limit,  
mg/kg  Test method  
i) Arsenic  0.1 AOAC 952.13  
ii) Lead  0.3 AOAC 972.23  
iii) Methyl mercuryf 0.5 AOAC 983.20  
f. Requirement for predatory fish  -1.0ppm  
 
7.2 Pesticide residues  
 
The product shall comply with those maximum pesticide residue limits established by the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission  
 
 
8 Packaging  
 
The product shall  be packed in food grade containers which will safeguard the hygienic, nutritional, and 
organoleptic qualities of th e product. They shall not impart any toxic substance or undesirable odour or 
flavour to the product.  
 
10 Labelling  
 
In addition to the requirements in ARS 56 , the following specific labelling requirements shall apply and 
shall be legibly and indelibly marked:   
 
a) the product shall be named as “Smoked fish/smoke -flavoured/smoke -dried fish” and the fish 
species;  
 
b) list of ingredients;  
 
c) net weight in grams or kilograms;  
 DARS 1 117:2023 
6 ©ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  d) name, locational  address of the processor or packer;  
 
e) country of origin;  
 
f) production date;  
 
g)   Best Before date;  
 
h) storage condition;  be stored in a suitable storage condition  
 
i) batch  number; and  
 
j) instruction for use.  
 
11 Sampling  
 
Sampling shall be done in accordance with CAC/GL 50.  
 
  DARS 1 117:2023 
7 ©ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  Bibliography  
 
 
EAS 876:201 7, Smoked fish, smoke -flavoured and smoke -dried fish — Specification  
 
CODEX STAN 311:2013, Standard for smoked fish, smoke -flavoured fish and smoke -dried fish  
 
 
 DARS 1 117:2023 
© ARSO 20 23 — All rights reserved