DEAS 804: 2022 
ICS 67.230  
 
© EA C 2022                                                                                                                         Second  Edition 20 22  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Claims on Foods ―General requirements  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS  804: 2022  
ii © EAC 20 22– All rig hts reserv ed 
 Copyright notice  
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participants in the EAC standards developme nt 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 
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement. 
Violators may be pr osecuted . DEA S 804: 2022 
© EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  iii 
 Contents  Page 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  1 
4 Guiding principles  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 1 
5 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  2 
5.1 Prohibited claims  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..........  2 
7 Conditional claims  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 2 
 DEAS  804: 2022  
iv © EAC 20 22– All rig hts reserv ed 
 Foreword  
 
Develo pment of the East African Standard has been necessitated by the need for harmonizing  requirements 
governing qua lity of products and services in the East African Community. It  is envisaged t hat through 
harmonized standardization, trade barriers which are en countered whe n goods and services are exchanged 
within th e Community will be removed.  
In order to ac hieve this objective, the Community established an East African Standards Committee manda ted 
to develop and issue East African Standards.  
The Committee is c omposed of re presentatives of the National Standards Bodies in Partner States, together  
with the repr esentatives from the private sectors and consumer organizations. Draft Ea st African Stan dards  
are circulated to stakeholders through the National Standards  Bodies in th e Partner States. The comments  
received are discussed and incorporated before finalizati on of standards, in accordance with the procedures  
of the Community.  
East African Standa rds are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances . Users of th e East  
African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the late st versions of the standards  
they are implementing.  
DEAS 804: 2022 was pre pared by Techn ical Committee EASC/TC 018  Nutrition and Foods for Special 
Dietary Uses  
This East African Standa rd is based on  CAC/GL 1 - 1979 (Amended 2009), General guidelines on claims . 
This second e dition (DEAS 80 4: 2022) cancels and replaces the first edition (EAS 80 4: 2014), which has been 
technically revised.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DEA S 804: 2022 
© EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  v 
 Introduction  
 
The purpose of this East African Standard is to provide general requirements that apply to claims made on  
foods. The general requirements are associated with th e labeling and advertise ment of food with particular  
reference to claims.  
This East African Standard is a tool to assist industry in compliance with standards and legislation and  
consumer protection. Th ese general  requirements should be complied with, whet her or not an individual  East 
African standard covers  a food.  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 804: 2022  
 
© EAC 2022 – All rights r eserved  1 
 Claims on food — General requireme nts 
1 Scope  
This Draft East African Standard specifies general requirements for claims made on a food irrespective of 
whether or not the food is covered by an individual East African  Standard.  
2 Normative references  
The following documents are referred to in the text i n such a way that some or all of their conten t constitutes  
requirements of this document . For dated referenc es, only the edition cited applies. For und ated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced  document (including any amendments) applies.  
CAC/GL 24, General guidance for the use of the term Hal al 
CAC/GL 9, General principles for the addition of essential nutrients to foods  
EAS 803 , Nutrition labelling — Requirem ents 
EAS 805, Use of nutri tion and health claims — Requirements  
3 Terms and def initions  
For the purposes of this standard the following  terms and definitions shall apply:  
3.1 
claim  
any representa tion which states, suggests or implies that a food has parti cular characteristics relating to its  
origin, nu tritional properties, nature, production, processing, composition  or any o ther quality attributes  
 
3.2 
food  
any substance, whether processed, semi -processed or raw, which is intended for human consumption, an d 
includes drinks, chewing gum and any substance  which has been used in the manufacture, preparation or  
treatment of “food ” but does not include cosmetics or tobacco or substances used only as dru gs 
 
4 Guiding principles  
4.1 No food is described or present ed in a manner that is false, mislead ing or deceptive or is likely to create  
an erroneous impression regarding its characte r in any respect  
4.2 The person producing, processing and/or marketing  the food shall be able to justify the c laims made   
2 © EAC 20 22– All rig hts reserv ed 
 5 Require ment s 
5.1 Prohibited cl aims 
5.1 Claims stating that any given food will provide an adequate source of all essential nutrients, except in  
the case of well -defined products for which an East African Standard regulates such c laims as admissib le 
claims  or where co mpetent authorities  have accepted the product to be an adequate source of all essential  
nutrients.  
5.2 Claims implying that a balanced diet  or ordinary foods cannot supply adequate  amounts of all nutrients  
5.3 Claims w hich cannot be substantiated.   
5.4 Claims as to the suitabil ity of a food for use in the prevention, alleviation, treat ment or cure of a disease,  
disorder, or  particular physiological condition unless they are:  
a) in accordance with the provisions of relevant East Afri can Standards; or  
b) permitted under the laws of the cou ntry in  which the food is distributed.  
5.5 Claims which give rise to doubt about the safety of similar  or alternative  food or  which arouse or exploit 
fear in the  consumer.  
5.6 Nutrition and health claims shal l not be made for foods  for infants and young children products’  
5.7 Meaningles s claims including incomplete comparatives and superlatives . 
5.8 Claims as to good hygienic practice, such as “wholesome”, “healthful”, “sound”.  
6 Conditional claims  
6.1 An indication that a food has obtained an  increased or special nutritive value by mean s of the addition  
of nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals a nd amino acids may be given only if such an addition has been made  
on the basis of nutritional consideratio ns acco rding to the CAC/GL 9 and such additi on conforms with relevant  
East African Standa rds. 
6.2 An indication that the food has special nutritional  qualities by the reduction or omission of a nutrient  
shall be on the basis of nutritional considerations a nd subj ect to legislation by the appropriate  authorities.  
6.3 Terms such as "natural", "p ure", "fresh", "home made", "organically grown" and "biologi cally grown"  
‘dairy excluded  foods’’, “gluten free ” when they are used, shall be in accordance with the national l egislation 
and shall be co nsiste nt with the  prohibitions set out in Clause 5 . 
6.4 Religious or ritual preparation (fo r example, Halal, Kosher) of a f ood may be claimed provided that  the 
food conforms to the requirements of the appropriate religious or ritual authorities and in with  accordance to  
CAC/GL 24.  
6.5 Claims that a food ha s special characteristics when all such foods have the same characterist ics, if this  
fact is apparent in  the claim.  
6.6 Claims which highlight the absence or non -addition of particular substances to food m ay be used  
provided that they are not misleading an d provided that the substance:  
a) is not su bject to specific requirements i n any East African or National S tandard or Guideline or  law; 
b) is one which consumer  would normally expect to find in the food;   
© EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  3 
 c) has not  been substituted by another giving the food equivalent characteristics unless the nature  of the 
substitution is clearly st ated with equal prominence; and  
d) is one whose presen ce or addition is permitted in the food.  
6.7 Claims which highlight the absence or  non-addition of one or more nutrients are regarded as nutrition  
claims and therefore shall  invoke requirements for nutrien t declaration in accordance with  the EAS 80 3. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DEAS 804: 2022   
 
© EAC 20 22– All rights reserved