AFRICAN 
STANDARD  DARS  
873  
Second  Edition 2023 
 
 Reference No. DARS 873:2023 
ICS 67.060 
 
 
© ARSO 2023  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dry f aba beans — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DARS 873:2023  
ii © ARSO  2023 — All rights reserved   
Table of contents  
 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .............  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...................  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................  1 
4 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................  2 
4.1 General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..........  2 
4.2 Specific requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  3 
5 Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................  3 
5.1 Heavy metals  ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................  3 
5.2 Pesticide residues  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............  3 
6 Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..........  3 
7 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...... 3 
8 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........  4 
9 Sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ....... 4 
Bibliography  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..........  5 
 
  DARS 873:2023  
© ARSO  2023 — All rights reserved  iii Foreword  
 
The African Organization for Standardization (ARSO) 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 harmonize 
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 A frican 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, Regio nal 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 techni cal committees is to prepare ARSO Standards. Draft ARSO Standards adopted 
by the technical committees 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 subject of 
patent rights. ARSO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  
 
This African Standard was prepared by the ARSO Technical  Committee on Cereals, pulses and derived 
products (ARSO/TC 12) . 
 
 
 
 
 
© African Organisation for Standardisation 2023 — All rights reserved* 
 
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International House 3rd Floor  
P. O. Box 57363 — 00200 City Square  
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* © 2023 ARSO — All rights of exploitation reserved worldwide for African Member States’ NSBs.  DARS 873:2023  
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 
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© 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  
 
 
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement. 
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  DARS 873:2023  
© ARSO  2023 — All rights reserved  v Introduction  
 
Faba bean  contains about 30% protein (twice as much as that of cereals), and some varieties even  
reach over 40%. Among the edible leguminous bean crops, it is next to soybean in terms  of protein 
content. Faba bean protein contains the eight essential amino acids that the  human body cannot 
synthesize. Except for tryptophan and methionine, the contents of  the other six amino acids are high, 
especially lysine, which is twice as high as that in  cereal grains. In terms o f flour, lysine content is four 
times as high. Faba bean is a leguminous crop rich in starch, high in protein and low  in fat. The total 
amount of the eight essential amino acids in faba bean is 3.3 times that  in wheat, and 2.95 times that 
in maize. Its lys ine content is 7.7 times that of  wheat and 6.4 times that of maize, and surpasses the 
content in meat.  Therefore, faba bean  is being recommended as a new source of plant protein, and is 
receiving attention in  some European and African countries. The vitamin content in faba bean is higher 
than that of rice and wheat too.  
 
Faba bean can be taken as a staple food as well as a subsidiary food. As staple food, faba bean can 
be mixed with flour and maize flours  to make into various kinds of noodles and the  mixture of faba bean 
flour and wheat flour  can be processed into delicious and nutritious bread.  
 
Faba bean is a good raw material for manufacturing a great variety of traditional  subsidiary food items 
such as vermicelli, noodles, soy sauce, pepper sauce,  protein  powder, starch  and fibrous powder . Apart 
from these, it also can be processed into other nutritious food items by means of technology  and the 
productive value is 3 -5 times as much as that of the primary product.  
 
Faba beans are part of the strate gic food commodity basket recognized by the declaration of the African 
Union Food Security Summit held in December 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria. This standard was harmonized 
as part of the response by the resolution of the AU Food Security Summit to harmonize st andards and 
grades for strategic food commodities as a means of promoting and facilitating intra -African food trade. 
Such facilitation would lead to free movement of food commodities from areas of surplus to areas of 
deficit, leading to overall achievement  of food and nutrition security, food self -sufficiency and 
socioeconomic development of the African continent.  
 
 
 DARS 873:2023  
© ARSO  2023 — All rights reserved  1  
Dry faba beans — Specification  
 
1 Scope  
 
This Final Draft African Standard specifies the requirements , sampling and test methods  for dry faba beans  of 
cultivated varieties (cultivars) grown from Vicia faba L. intended for 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. F or undated references, the 
latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
 
ARS 53, General principles of food hygiene — Code of practice  
 
ARS 56, Prepackaged foods — Labelling  
 
AOAC Official Method 999.10:1999, Determination of lead, cadmium, copper, iron and zinc in foods — Atomic 
absorption spectrophotometry after microwave digestion  
 
AOAC Official Method 999.11:1999, Determination of lead, cadmium, copper, iron and zinc in foods — Atomic 
absorption spectrophot ometry after dry ashing  
 
AOAC Official Method 2001.04, Determination of Fumonisins B 1 and B 2 in corn and corn flakes — Liquid 
chromatography with immunoaffinity column cleanup  
 
ISO 605 , Pulses — Determination of impurities, size, foreign odours, insects, and species and variety — Test 
methods  
 
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  
 
ISO 24333, Cereals and cereal products — Sampling  
 
ISO 24557, Pulses — Determination of moisture content — Air-oven method  
 
3 Terms and definitions  
 
For the purpose of this document,  the following terms and definition s apply . 
 
3.1 
dry faba beans  
dry mature seeds of Vicia faba  L. 
 
3.2 
broken  
pieces of dry faba beans  that are less than three -quarters the size of a whole grain  
 
3.3 
foreign matter’  
all organic and inorganic material other than dry fonio grain or broken fonio grain and other edible grains  
 
3.3.1  
inorganic ma tter 
stones, glass, pieces of soil and other mineral  matter  
 
3.3.2  
organic matter  
AFRICAN STANDARD  DARS 873: 2023  
2 © ARSO  2023 — All rights reserved  any animal or plant matter (seed coats, straws, weeds) other than fonio grain, broken fonio grain, inorganic 
extraneous matter and harmful/toxic seeds  
 
3.4 
heated -damaged beans  
faba beans are considered heated or rotted if they are materially discoloured as a result of heating or rotting. 
Seed coats appear dark brown to black. The cotyledon tissue of dissected beans appears tan or brown.  
 
3.5 
poisonous, toxic and/or harmful seeds  
seeds such as Crotolaria ( Crotalaria spp .), Corn cockle ( Agrostemma githago  L.), Castor bean ( Ricinus  
communis  L.), Jimson weed ( Datura  spp.) which, if present in quantities above a certain limit, can have a 
damaging or  dangerous effect on health, sensory properties or technological performance  
 
3.5 
heated -damaged beans   
dry faba beans which show damage owing to attack by rodents, insects, mites or other pests  
 
3.6 
other edible grains  
grains other than dry faba bean (Vicia faba L), whole or broken such as maize, sorghum, wheat  
 
3.7 
immature/shrivelled beans  
dry faba beans which are under -developed and wrinkled over their entire surface  
 
3.8 
rotten and diseased beans  
dry faba beans affected by mould growth or bacterial  decomposition, or other causes that may be noticed without 
having to cut the grains to examine them and render them unsafe for human consumption  
 
3.9 
discoloured faba beans  
dry faba beans which are damaged, by heat, frost or water  
 
3.10 
defective/damaged beans  
dry faba beans that have been broken, pest damaged, shrivelled, immature, rotten, mouldy, diseased, 
germinated, discoloured and heat damaged  
 
3.11 
food grade packaging material  
material which will safeguard the hygienic, nutritional, technological and organoleptic qualities of the product  
 
4 Requirements  
 
4.1 General  requirements  
 
Dry f aba beans  shall:  
 
a) consist of mature dry pulses of Vicia faba L.; 
 
b) be clean, well -filled, wholesome, uniform in size, shape, colour and in sound merchantable conditions;  
 
c) be free from substances which render them unfit for human or animal consumption or processing into or 
utilisation thereof as food or feed;  
 
d) be free from off-flavours, musty, sour or other undesirable odour,  obnoxious smell  and discolouration;  
 DARS 873:2023  
© ARSO  2023 — All rights reserved  3 e) be free of pests, animal droppings, fungal infection, animal droppings, fungal infection, added colouring 
matter, impurities of plant and animal origin including insects, rodent hair and excreta and shall meet 
any other sanitary and phytosanitary requirem ents; and 
 
f) shall be free from toxic or noxious seeds that are commonly recognized as harmful to health.  
 
4.2 Specific requirements  
 
4.2.1  Grading  
 
Dry faba beans  shall be graded  into three grades on the basis of the tolerable limits established in Table 1 when 
tested in accordance with the test methods specified therein which shall be additional to the general 
requirements set out in this standard.  
 
Table 1 — Specific requirements for d ry faba beans  
 
S/N Characteristic  Maximum limit  
% m/m, max.  Test method  
Grade 1  Grade 2  Grade 3  
i.  Foreign matter  0.2 0.5 1 
ISO 605  ii.  Inorganic matter  0.1 0.2 0.3 
iii.  Broken beans  1 2 3 
iv.  Pest damaged beans  0.3 0.8 1.5 
v.  Rotten and diseased beans  0.2 0.5 0.5 
vi.  Discoloured beans  1 3 3 
vii.  Immature/shrivelled beans  2 4 5 
viii.  Other varieties  0.1 0.5 3.0 
ix.  Other edible grains  0.1 0.2 0.5 
x.  Filth 0.1 0.1 0.1 
xi.  Total defective beans  3 6 8 
xii.  Moisture  14.0  14.0  14.0 ISO 24557  
NOTE  The parameter, total defective grains is not the sum total of the individual defects. It is limited to 70% of the sum 
total of individual defects.  
 
5 Contaminants  
 
5.1 Heavy  metals  
 
Dry f aba beans  shall comply with those maximum limits for metal contaminants established by the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission for this commodity . 
 
5.2 Pesticide residues  
 
Dry faba beans  shall comply with those maximum pesticide residue limits established by the Codex Alimentarius 
Commission for this commodity . 
 
6 Hygiene  
 
6.1 Dry f aba beans  shall be produced, prepared and handled in accordance with the provisions of 
appropriate sections of ARS 53 . 
 
7 Packaging  
 DARS 873: 2023  
4 © ARSO  2023 — All rights reserved  7.1 Dry faba beans shall be packed in suitable food grade packaging materials. When the product is 
packaged in sacks, these shall be clean, sturdy and strongly sewn or sealed . 
 
7.3 Each package shall contain dry faba beans  of the same variety  and of the same grade designation.  
 
8 Labelling  
 
8.1 Labelling of retail packages  
 
In addition to the requirements in ARS 56 , each package shall be legibly and indelibly marked with the following:  
 
a) product name as “ Dry f aba beans”;  
 
b) grade;  
 
c) name, address and physical location of the producer/ packer/importer;  
 
d) lot/batch/code number;  
 
e) net weight, in SI units ; 
 
f) the declaration “Food for Human Consumption’’ ; 
 
g) storage instruction as “Store in a cool dry place away from any contaminants’’;  
 
h) crop year;  
 
i) packing date;  
 
j) instructions on disposal of used package;  
 
k) country of origin;  
 
l) a declaration on whether the dry faba beans were genetically modified  or not ; and  
 
m) a caution note indicating that ‘Faba beans are rich in tyramine, and thus should be avoided by those 
taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors.’  
 
8.2 Labelling of non-retail containers  
 
Information detailed in 8.1 shall be given either on the container or in accompanying documents, except that the 
name of the product, lot identification and the name and address of the processor or packer as well as storage 
instructions, shall appear on th e container.  
 
For products purchased for use by the buyer/retailer, at least the name of producer, lot number and/or ‘crop 
year’ shall be indicated on the container.  
 
Lot identification and the name and address of the processor or packer may be replaced b y an identification 
mark provided that such a mark is clearly identifiable with the accompanying documents.  
 
9 Sampling  
 
Sampling shall be done in accordance with ISO 24333 . 
 
 
  DARS 873:2023  
© ARSO  2023 — All rights reserved  5 Bibliography  
 
[1] EAS 763 :2012, Faba beans — Specification  
 
[2] Fababeans, Official Grain Grading Guide, August 1, 20 12, Canadian Grain Commission  
 
[3] Australian Pulse Standards, 2012/2013: Faba beans — Minimum standards  
 
 DARS 873:2023  
© ARSO  2023 — All rights reserved