DEAS 1149: 2023  
ICS 67.180.10   
 
© EAC 2023                                                                                                                              First Edition 2023 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Industrial honey — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 1149: 2023  
ii © EAC  2023 – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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© East African Community  2023 — All rights reserved  
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.  
Violators may be prosecuted . DEAS 1149: 2023   
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  iii 
 Contents  Page 
Foreword  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  iv 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  1 
4 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  2 
4.1 General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
4.2 Specific requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
5 Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  3 
5.1 Heavy metal contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...................  3 
5.2 Pesticide residues and veterinary drugs  ................................ ................................ ............................  3 
6 Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...................  3 
7 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............  4 
8 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .................  4 
9  Sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............  4 
Annex  A (normative)  Gravimetric d etermination of water -insoluble solids content (Type II 
method)  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................  5 
 
 
 DEAS 1149: 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 service s 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 Standar ds 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 
organizati ons 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 Afri can Standards. XXXXXX.  
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 implemen ting.  
The committee responsible for this document is Technical Committee  EASC/TC 011, Apiary and apiary 
products  
 
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 respo nsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  DEAS 1149: 2023   
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  v 
 Introduction  
Natural honey may undergo some changes as a result of unintentionally induced natural bioprocesses such 
as fermentation or changes during processing stages of the honey (such as overheatin g during warming to 
sieve the honey)  This often results into a low quality hone y but whose phys co-chemical attributes are not 
substantially different from those of natural honey.  
 It is common practice that this honey is not wasted but used as a raw materi al to produce other food products 
after suitable processing . The Industrial Honey Specification is developed in order to facilitate trade as well as 
to ensure the quality of this product. The product, since it is of low quality, is emphatically not meant f or direct 
human consumption but rather for industrial use.  This product can be used as a raw material or an ingredient 
in the food industry in baked products, confectionery, breakfast cereals, beverages, milk products and many 
preserved  products  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1149: 2023   
 
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  1 
 Industri al honey  — Specification  
1 Scope   
This Draft East African Standard specifies the requirements, sampling and test methods for honey produced 
by honeybees of genus Apis used as a raw material for industrial purposes  but not for direct 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 edi tion of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
AOAC 920.181, Ash of honey   
AOAC, 920.183, Sugars (reducing) in honey  
AOAC 920.184, Sucrose in honey  
AOAC 958.09, Determination of diastase activity  
AOAC 962.19, Determination of acidity ( free, lactone, and total). Titrimetric method  
AOAC 969.38b, Determination of moisture content  
AOAC 980.23, Determination of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content  
EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packaged foods — Specification  
EAS 39, Hygiene in the food and drink ma nufacturing industry — Code of practice  
CAC/GL 50, General guidelines on sampling  
ISO 4831, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection and 
enumeration of coliforms — Most probable number technique  
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  
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  
 DEAS 1149: 2023  
2 © EAC  2023 – All rights reserved  
 3.1 
honey  
natural sweet substance produced by honeybees of genus Apis from the nectar of blossoms or from 
secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant sucking insects on the living parts of the plants, which 
honeybees collect, transform and comb ine with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and 
leave in the honey comb to ripen and mature.  
3.2 
industrial honey  
 
honey that may have either been subjected to some kind of processing, treatment or not but having 
undergone some ph ysical or organoleptic characteristics  used as a raw material or an  ingredient for 
processing other honey value added products  such as syrups, bakeries ,breweries e.t.c  
3.3 
foreign matter  
organic or inorganic matter other than honey  
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
Industrial Honey shall:  
a) not have added food ingredient, including food additives, nor shall any other additions be made other 
than;  
b) not have any objectionable matter, flavour, aroma, or taint absorbed from foreign matter during its 
processing and storage;  
c) not have pollen or constituent particular to honey removed except where this is unavoidable in the  
d) removal of foreign inorganic or organic matter;  
e) not be chemically or biochemically treated to influence honey crystallization;  
f) have th e characteristic colour of the product;  
g) have the consistency of fluid, viscous, partly or entirely crystallized;  and 
h) be free from  to be free from foreign matter . 
4.2 Specific requirements  
Industrial honey shall comply with the specific quality requirement s given in Table 1 when tested in 
accordance with the test methods specified therein.  DEAS 1149: 2023   
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  3 
   
 
 
 
Table 1  — Specific requirements for industrial honey  
S/N Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
i Reducing sugar, as invert sugar, 
min, %  50 AOAC 920.183  
ii Moistu re, max, %  25 AOAC 969.38b  
 Sucrose, max, %  7 AOAC 920.184  
iii Water insoluble solids;  0.5 Annex A  
iv Total ash, %m/m, max.  0.6 AOAC 920.181  
v Acidity as meq acid per kg, max.  80 AOAC 962.19  
vi Diastase activity, min  8 AOAC 958.09  
vii Hydroxymethyl f urfural (HMF), 
max, mg/kg  80 AOAC 980.23  
 
5 Contaminants  
5.1 Heavy metal contaminants  
The product covered by this standard shall comply with those maximum levels for heavy metals established  
by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.  
5.2 Pesticide residues and  veterinary drugs  
The product shall comply with pesticides and veterinary drugs maximum residue limits for honey established 
by the Codex  Alimentarius Commission . 
6 Hygiene  
Industrial Honey shall be processed and handled in hygienic manner in accordance wi th the EAS 39 and shall 
comply with the microbiological limits given in Table 2 when tested in accordance with test methods specified 
therein.   
Table 2 ― Microbiological limits for Industrial honey  
S/N Microorganism  Limits  Test method  
i Coliforms, MPN/g,  Absent  ISO 4831 .-3 
ii Yeast and mould, cfu/g  <10 ISO 21527 -2 
 DEAS 1149: 2023  
4 © EAC  2023 – All rights reserved  
 7 Packaging  
Industrial Honey shall be packaged in a food grade material that pro tects the integrity and safety of the 
product.  
8 Labelling  
In addition to the labelling requirements given in EAS 38, the package shall be  legibly and indelibly labelled 
with the following information:  
a) name of the product;  as Industrial honey ;  
b) date of pac kaging and best before ; and 
c) disclaimer: "For industrial purposes only ". 
9  Sampling  
Sampling of honey shall be done in accordance with CAC/GL 50.  DEAS 1149: 2023   
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  5 
 Annex  A 
(normative)  
 
Gravimetric determination of water -insoluble solids content (Type II 
method)  
A.1 Sampli ng 
A.1.1  Liquid or strained honey  
If sample is free from granulation, mix thoroughly by stirring or shaking; if granulated, place closed container in 
water -bath without submerging, and heat 30 min at 60 °C; then if necessary, heat at 65 °C until liquefied.  
Occasional shaking is essential. Mix thoroughly and cool rapidly as soon as sample liquefies. Do not heat 
honey intended for hydroxymethylfurfural or diastatic determination. If foreign matter, such as wax, sticks, 
bee’s particles or comb, etc., is presen t, heat sample at 40 °C in water -bath and  strain through cheesecloth in 
hot-water -funnel before sampling.  
A.1.2  Comb honey  
Cut across top of comb, if sealed, and separate completely from comb by straining through a sieve the 
meshes of which are made by so weaving wire as to form square opening of 0.500 mm by 0.500 mm when 
portions of comb or wax pass through sieve, heat sample as in A.1.1 and strain through cheesecloth. If honey 
is granulated in comb, heat until wax is liquefied; stir, cool and remove wax.  
A.2 Procedure  
A.2.1  Preparation of test sample  
Weigh 20 g of honey and dissolve in a suitable quantity of distilled water at 80 °C and mix well.  
A.2.2  Gravimetric determination  
The test sample is filtered through a previously dried and weighed fine sintere d glass crucible (pore size 
15.40) and washed thoroughly with hot water (80 °C) until free from sugars (Mohr test). The crucible is dried 
for one hour at 135 °C, cooled and weighed to 0.1 mg.  
A.2.3  Expression of results  
The result is expressed as percent w ater insoluble solids (m/m).  DEAS 1149: 2023     
  
 
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