DEAS 990: 2019  
ICS 67.180.20   
 
© EAC 2019                                                                                                                           First Edition 2019 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Bee p ropolis  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 990: 2019  
ii © EAC  2019 – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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 DEAS 990: 2019  
© EAC 2019 – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessi tated 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.  
The Community has established an East African Standards 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 
organizations  in the community .  
East African Standards are developed through  Technical Committees that are representative of key 
stakeholders including government, academia, con sumer 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 African Standa rds. 
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected to ens ure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible for this document is 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 responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 990: 2019  
 
© EAC 2019 – All rights reserved  1 
 Bee p ropolis  — Specification  
1 Scope   
This Draft East African Standard specifies the requirements, sampling and test methods for bee propolis . 
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  edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
AOAC  Official Method 999.11 Determination of Lead, Cadmium, Copper, Iron, and Zinc in Foods, Atomic 
Absorption Spectrophotometry after Dry Ashing  
CAC/GL 50 , General guidelines on sampl ing 
EAS 12 , Potable water — Specification  
EAS 38 , Labelling of pre -packag ed foods — General requirements  
EAS 39 , Code of practice for hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry  
ISO 1666 , Starch — Determination of moisture content — Oven -drying m ethod  
EAS 804, Claims on food — General requirements  
EAS 805 , Use of nutrition and health claims — Requirements  
ISO 5516 , Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Decomposition of organic matter prior to analysis — 
Ashing method  
ISO 5809 , Starches and der ived products — Determination of sulphated ash  
ISO 16212, Cosmetics — Microbiology — Enumeration of yeast and mould  
ISO 21150, Cosmetics — Microbiology — Detection of Escherichia coli  
ISO 22718, Cosmetics — Microbiology — Detection of Staphylococcus aureus  
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   
2 © EAC  2019 – All rights reserved  
 propolis   
bee glue or resinous mixture that bees produce by mixing bee secretions and beeswax with exudate gathered 
from tree buds, sap flows, or other botanical sources  
4 Requirements  
4.1 General req uirements  
Bee propolis  shall;  
a) have characteristic appearance, colour, taste, odour and flavour  depending on origin;   
b) be pure and unadulterated ;  
c) be lipophilic in nature, rigid, fragile and brittle material when cold; but when temperature rises, it 
becomes soft, pasty, gummy and adhesive property and be sticky ; 
d) be soluble in ether, sparingly soluble in alcohol and insoluble in water ; and  
e) be processed using clean equipment and the water used in processing shall be potable water in 
accordance with EAS 12 . 
4.2 Specific requirements  
Bee propolis shall also comply with the requirements given in Table 1 when tested in accordance with the test 
methods prescribed therein.  
Table 1— Specific r equirements for bee propolis  
S/N Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
i) Moisture content , %, max.   6.0  ISO 1666  
ii) Total ash, %, max.  10.0 ISO 5809  
iii) Wax, %, max.  30  
iv) Resins, %, max.  50  
5 Contaminants  
5.1 Heavy metal contaminants  
Bee propolis  shall be free from heavy metals in amounts which may represent a hazard  to human health and 
shall conform to the limits specified in Table 2 when tested in accordance with the test methods prescribed 
therein.    
© EAC 2019 – All rights reserved  3 
 Table 2  — Requirements for heavy metal contaminants  
S/N Metal  Limit  
(ppm , max. ) Test method  
i) Arsenic (As)  0.5 ISO 5516 &  AOAC 999.11  
ii) Lead  (Pb) 1.0 ISO 5516 &  AOAC 999.11  
iii) Mercury (Hg)  0.05 ISO 5516 &  AOAC 999.11  
iv) Cadmium (Cd)  0.2 ISO 5516 &  AOAC 999.11  
 
5.2 Residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs  
Bee propolis  shall comply with pesticides and veter inary drugs maximum residue limits for the product 
established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.  
6 Hygiene  
Bee propolis  shall be processed and handled in hygienic manner in accordance with the EAS 39 and shall 
comply with the microbiological limits st ipulated in Table 3 when tested in accordance with test methods 
specified therein.  
Table 3 — Microbiology requirements for bee propolis  
S/N Parameter  Limit  Test method  
i) Yeast/mould , cfu/g , 
max.  10 ISO 16212  
ii) E. coli , cfu/g Absent  ISO 21150  
iii) Staphylococcus , 
cfu/g  Absent  ISO 22718  
7 Packaging  
Bee propolis  shall be packaged in a food grade material that protects the integrity and safety of the product.  
8 Weights and measures  
The volume and fill  of the container shall comply with weight s and measur es regulations in the respective 
partner state . 
9 Labelling  
In addition to the labelling requirements given in EAS 38, the package shall be legibly and indelibly marked 
with the following information:  
a) name of the product as “ Bee propolis ”; 
b) name, location and physical address of the processor/packer;  
c) country of origin;   
4 © EAC  2019 – All rights reserved  
 d) date of packaging;  
e) best before;  
f) instructions for storage;  
g) net content in SI unit; and  
h) Batch/Lot number  
10 Nutrition al and health claims  
Any nutritional and health claims associated with thi s product shall be in accordance with EAS 805  and shall 
follow nutritional labelling concepts in accordance with EAS 804.  
11 Sampling  
Sampling of bee propolis  shall be done in accordance with CAC/GL 50.  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DEAS 990: 2019    
 
© EAC 2019 – All rights reserved