DEAS 770 : 2022 
ICS 67.180.10  
 
© EA C 2022                                                                                                                         Second Edition 20 22  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Fortified  sugar — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 770 : 2022  
ii © EAC 20 22– All rights rese rved 
 Copyright notice  
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement. 
Violators may be pr osecuted . DEAS 770 : 2022 
© EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  iii 
 Contents  Page 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
4 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  2 
5 Fortification requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ....................  3 
6 Food additives  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ....... 3 
7 Cont aminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  4 
8 Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...................  4 
9 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............  4 
10 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .................  4 
11 Method of sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............................  5 
 DEAS 770 : 2022  
iv © EAC 20 22– All rights rese rved 
 Foreword  
 
Development 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 that through 
harmonized standardization, trade barriers which are encountered when  goods and services are exchanged 
within th e Community will be removed.  
In order to meet the above objectives, the EAC Partner  States have enacted an East African  Standardization, 
Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing Act, 2006 (EAC SQMT Act, 2006) to ma ke provisions for ensuring 
standardization , quality assurance, metrology and testing of products  produced or originating in a  third country 
and traded in the Community in order to facilitate industrial  development and trade as well as helping to 
protect th e health and safety of society and the  environment in the Community.  
East African Standards are formulated in accordance with  the procedures established by the East  African 
Standards Committee. The East African Standards Committee is established under the  provisions of Article 4 
of the EAC SQMT Ac t, 2006. The Committee is composed of representatives of  the National Standards 
Bodies in Partner States, together with the representatives from the private  sectors and consumer 
organizations. Draft East African St andards 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 procedures of the  Community  
Article 15(1) of th e EAC SQMT Act, 2006 provides that “Withi n six months of the declaration of an  East African 
Standard, the Partner States sha ll adopt, without deviation from the approved text of the  standard, the East 
African Standard as a national standard and withdraw an y existing national  standard with similar  scope and 
purpose”.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace wit h technological advances. Users of the  East 
African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest vers ions of  the standards 
they are implementi ng. 
This second edition DEAS 770 :2022  cancels and repla ces the first edition, EAS 7 70:2012 , which has been  
technically revised.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DEAS 770 : 2022 
© EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  v 
 Introduction  
 
The Health Ministers of the East, Central and Southern Africa (ECSA) Health Community passed a  esolution 
in 2002 directing the Secretariat to work with the countries to fortify commonly c onsumed food s in the region 
after rec ognizing the high levels of malnutr ition in the region. ECSA -HC is an intergovernmental  organization 
that fosters cooperation in health a mong countries in the East, Central and  Southern African Region. It has 10 
active member state s namely Kenya, Uganda, T anzania, Malawi,  Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, 
Mauritius and Seychelles. The mandate of the organization is to  promote relevance and efficiency in health in 
the region.  
Following initial promotion efforts, the c ountries iden tified staple foods suit able for fortification as oil, suga r, 
maize/meal flour and wheat flour. These foods can be used as vehicles to deliver essential micronut rients  to 
the populations. Based on scientific evidence and working with countries  using country data, the  Secretariat 
developed implementation focused gu idelines on fortification of these foods to help countries  start up 
programs and scale up the existing  programs.  These  guidelines included fortification levels for addition of 
micronut rients in sugar . 
Based on the guidelines and other available information, most of the countries in the East African Region  and 
in the larger Africa have initiated national pr ograms on oil fortification with vitamin A; and wheat and  
maize/mea l flour fortifi cation with iron, zi nc, folic acid, niacin, vitamin B -1, B-2 and B -12, B6 and vitamin A.  
Sugar fortification with vitamin A has a lso been considered as a way of supplementing  other sources  of the  
vitamin in order to prevent and reduce proble ms associated w ith the deficiency o f this vitamin. Salt  fortification 
with iodine continues to be implemented in all the countries.  
With the incr eased trade of food commodities including th ese fortified foods within the region, it has  become 
imperative to develop regiona l standards that ove r and above the other standards, stipulate  minimum and 
maximum levels of the added nutrients, provide clauses on how to pack the fortified product  and the  use of 
health  and nutrition claims. The guidelines developed throu gh ECSA have no w been  incorporated into food 
standards to provide for specific fortified products.  
It is envisaged that, the adoption of these sta ndards and their utilization within the reg ion will help countries  
adopt food fortification as a strategy to p revent, allevia te or eliminate micr onutrient deficiency in the region.  
Standards will not only promote the health of the population but will also ensure safety of food products and  
enhance fair trade.  
This standard was developed with support from the East,  Central and So uthern African Healt h community  
(ECSA -HC) Secretariat. This was possible through a grant by the A2Z Project of the United States Age ncy for 
International Development (USAID).  The financial  and technical support was used in the process of  
formulation of for tification levels, d evelopment of the draft standards and mobilization of stakeholders to  
review the standard in national and region al fora. This support is hereby acknowledg ed. 
 
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 770 : 2022 
 
© EAC 2022 – All rights reserved  1 
 Fortified sugar  — Specification  
1 Scope  
This Draft  East African Standard s pecifies the requirements, sampling and test methods of for fortified light 
brown sugar and fortified brown sugar  and fortified plantation (mill) white sugar  and fortified re fined white 
sugar  intended for human consumption . 
This standard does not apply to sugar intended for ind ustrial use. 
2 Normative references  
The following documents are referr ed to in the text i n such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requirements of th is document . For dated references, only the edition cited applies. F or undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendmen ts) applies.  
AOAC  2001.13 , Vitamin A(Retionol) in Foods. Liquid Chromatography  
EAS 16, Plantatio n (mill)  white sugar  — Specification  
EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packag ed foods — Specification  
EAS 39, Code of practice for hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry  
EAS 749, Brown sugars — Specificatio n 
EAS 803 , Nutrition labelling — Requirements  
EAS 804, Claims on foods — Requirements  
EAS 80 5, Use of nutritional  and health claims — Requirement  
ICUMSA GS 2/3 -35, The Deter mination of Sulphit e in Brown Sugars  
ICUMSA Method  GS 1/2/3/9 -1, The Determination of the Polarisation of R aw Suga r by Polarim etry 
ICUMSA Method GS 1/3/4/7/8 -13, The Determinati on of Conductivity Ash in Raw Sugar,  Brown Sugar, Juice, 
Syrup and Molasses  
ICUMSA Method GS 2/1/3/9 -15, The Determination of Sug ar Moisture by Loss on Drying  
ICUMSA Method GS 2/3/ 9-19, The De termination of Insolubl e Matter in White Sugar by Membrane  Filtration  
ICUMSA Method  GS 2/9 -6, The Determination of Reducing Sugar s in White Sugar and  Plantation White 
Sugar by the Modifi ed Ofner Titrimetri c Method  
ICUMSA Method GS 9/1/2/ 3-8, The Determinati on of Sugar Solution C olour at pH 7.0 by the  MOPS Method   
2 © EAC 20 22– All rights rese rved 
 ISO 21527 -2, Microbiolo gy of food and anim al feedstuffs — Horizontal metho d for t he enumerati on of  yeasts 
and moulds  — Part 2: Colony count technique in products with water activity less than or equa l to 0.95  
ISO 4833 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the e numeration of microorganisms — 
Part 1: Colony count at 30 °C by the p our plate technique  
ISO 6579 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the detection, enu meration and 
serotyping of Salmonel la — Part 1: Detection of Salmonella spp.  
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of this documen t, the terms and definitions given in EAS 5, EAS 16, EAS 749 , EAS 1023  
and the following apply.  
3.1 
fortification  
as practi ce of deliberately adding micronutrient(s) , that is vitamins and minerals (includi ng trace  elements) in a 
food to improve the nutritional quality of the  food and to provide a public health be nefit with m inimal risk to 
health . 
3.2 
fortifie d sugar  
sugar to which essential micronutrients have been a dded  
4 Requirement s 
4.1 Raw materials  
a) Brown sugar  and lig ht brown sugar complying  with EAS 74 9 
b) Refined whit e sugar complying with EAS 5  
c) Plantation (mill) white sugar complying with EAS  16 
4.2 General  requirements  
Fortified sugars sh all be  
a) free-flowing cry stals,  
b) pract ically free from dirt, forei gn and extraneous matter and  
c) Free from fermented , musty or undesirable odours.  
4.3 Specific requirements  
Fortified sugars shall conform to the specific quality requirement s provided in Table  1. 
Table 1 — Specific requirements for fortified sugars  
S/N Chara cteristic  Requirement   Test method  
Light brown  Brown sugar  Plantation  
(mill) white  Refined 
white sugar  
i.  Polarisation,  oZ, min.  99.2  99.0 99.5 99.8 ICUM SA  
© EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  3 
 Method  GS 
1/2/3/9-1 
ii.  Invert sugar content,  % 
by mass, max. 0.2  0.2 0.1 0.04 ICUMSA 
Method  GS 
2/3/9-5 
ICUMSA 
Method  GS 
2/9-6 
iii.  Conductivity ashes,  % by 
mass, max.  0.3  0.3 0.1 0.04 ICUMSA 
Method  GS 
1/3/4/7/8 -13 
iv.  Moisture content (loss 
on drying for 3 h at 105 
oC ± 2MoC), % by 
mass, max.  0.15  0.2 0.1 0.1 ICUMSA 
Method  GS 
2/1/3/9 -15 
v.  Colour,  ICUMS A units, 
max 700 
 1300  400 60 ICUMSA 
Method  GS 
9/1/2/3 -8 
vi.  Sulphur dioxide,  mg/kg, 
max.  
 20 20 20 10 ICUMSA GS 
2/3-35 
vii.  Water insoluble matter,  
mg/kg, max.  
 250  
 250 150 60 ICUMSA 
Method  GS 
2/3/9 -19 
viii.  Copper mg/kg  2 2 2 2 ICUMSA 
Method GS  
2/3-29 
 
5 Forti fication requirement s 
5.1 Levels of Vitamin A1 
The fortified sugar shall con form to the requirements and the levels of vitamin A provid ed in Table 2.  
Table 2 — Requirements f or vitamin A in fortified sugar  
Nutrient  Fortificant  
compound   Nutri ent limits , mg/kg Test method  
Minim um  Maximum  
Vitamin A  
 Vitamin A 
(Retinyl)  
palmitate  2 15 AOAC  2001.13  
1Countries may add oth er micronutrients if available country data indicate  deficiency in such nutrients.  
5.2 Fortifi cants  
Forficants to be used for sugar fo rtification shall  comply wi th EAS 1023.  
6 Food additives  
Fortifi ed sugars may contain food additives in accordance with CODEX STAN 192   
4 © EAC 20 22– All rights rese rved 
 7 Contamina nts 
7.1 Heavy metals  
Fortifi ed sugars shall conform to those ma ximum l imits for heavy metals  in table 2 
Table 3—Heavy metal limits in fortified sugar  
S/N Heavy metal  Maximum limit  mg/kg  Test me thod 
i.  Arsenic  1  ICUMSA Method GS 2/3/9 -
25 and ICUMSA Method GS 
2/3-23 
ii.  Lead   0.5  ICUM SA Method GS 2/1/3 -
27 and ICUMSA method GS  
2/3-23 
 
7.2 Pesticide residues  
Fortifi ed sugars shall conform to those maximu m residue limits established by the Codex Alimentarius  
Commissi on for this product.  
NOTE Where the use of certain pesticides is prohibi ted by some Partner States, then it should  be noti fied to all  Partner 
States accor dingly.  
8 Hygiene  
Fortified sugar shall  be produced, prepared and handled in accordance with EAS  39. 
Table 4 — Microbiological limits for fortified sugars  
Microbiological par ameter   Maxi mum Limits   Test method  
Total  Plate Count cfu/g , max.  103 ISO 4833 -1 
Yeast and moulds, cfu/  g, max.  50 ISO 21527 -2 
Escher ichia coli, cfu/g, max.   absent  ISO  16649 -2 
Salmonella  spp, per 25 g  Absent  ISO 6579 -1 
9 Packaging  
Fortified sug ars shall be packaged in food grade, non -absorbent materials which do n ot have  adverse effects 
on the composition of the product including its nutritional value,  propertie s and a ppearance.  
NOTE 1 Packaging materials ma y be required to meet different regula tions in the different destination countri es. 
10 Labelling  
10.1 General  labelling 
In addition to the requirements of EAS  38, the following specifi c provisions shall apply:  
a) name o f the product as “light brown sugar”, “brown su gar”, “plantation (mill) white sugar ” “refined 
white sugar ” and any other  name from country of origin reflecting nature of the  product. The words   
© EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  5 
 ‘fortified with XXX, where XXX means name of Nutrien t shall be declared in close pro ximity to the name 
of the sugar;   
b) net contents shall be d eclared by weight in the metric units ('Sy steme Intern ationale');  
c) name  and physica l address  of the manufacturer a nd/or the packer , distributor,  importer, exporter or 
vendor of the product shall be declared;  
d) Country of origin of the product shall be declare d; 
e) batch or lot number in code or c lear fo rmat; 
f) date of manufacture of the sugar, in reference to  the date of for tification, in t he form  ‘month and year’;  
g) best before date of t he sugar, in reference to the date of fortification, in the form ‘month  and year ’; and  
h) instructions on dis posal of used pa ckage. 
i) storage instructions  
Each product  unit may also be marked with the national food  fortification Logo, where the industry  qualifi es to 
use the mark.  
10.2  Nutrition labelling  
The amount of vitamin A in the for tified sugar shall be declared on the labe l in accordance with  EAS 803. 
10.3 Nutri tion and health claim s 
Fortified sugar may have claims on the importance of the vitamin A in nutrition and health. Such  claims when 
declare d shall be consistent with EAS 804  and EAS 805. 
11 Method of sampling  
11.1 General requirements  
In dra wing, preparing , storing and handling samples, the following precautions and directions  shall be 
observed.  
a) Samples shall be taken in a protected place  not exposed to damp air, dust or  soot.  
b) The sa mpling instruments shall be clea n and dry when used.  
c) When sa mpling for micr obiological purposes, the sampling instruments and containers  for samples 
shall be sterilized preferably by dry heat at 170 0C fo r 1 h before use.  
d) Precautions shall be taken to prot ect the samples, the material be ing sampled, the  sampli ng 
instruments and t he containers for samples from adventitious contamination.  
e) The samples shall be placed in clean, dry, and moisture -proof co ntainers.  
f) The sample containers shall be sealed air -tight after filling and marked with na me of material, date of  
samp ling, name of t he manufacturer, name of the person sampling and  such other particulars of the 
consignments.  
g) Samples shall be protected from light as far as practicable and shall be stored i n a coo l, dry  place.   
6 © EAC 20 22– All rights rese rved 
 11.2 Scale of samp ling 
11.2.1  All the pac kages  of the same si ze, type and style which have been manufactured and  packaged 
under essentially the same conditions in a single consignment shall constitute a lot.  Samples shall be tested 
separately  for each lot for ascertaining t he conformity of the su gar. 
11.2.2  The numb er of bags to be selected (n) from the lot shall depend on the size (N) of the lot  and shall 
be in accordance with the formula:  
n = √N 
11.2.3  These bags shall be selected at random from the lot; to ensure the randomness  of selection  a random 
number table, as agreed to between the purchaser and the supplier shall be used.  In case such a table is not 
available, the following procedure sh all be used:  
11.2.4  Starting from any bag,  count them as 1,2,3,….. up to r and so on in  one order, where  r is equal to the 
integral part of N/n, N being the total number of bags in the lot and n the number of  bags to be selected. Every 
r th bag thus counte d shall be separated until the requisite n umber of  bags is obtained from the lot to giv e 
samples for tes t. 
11.2.5  In case of  bags stacked in a pyramidal shape, approximately equal number of bags shall  be selected 
from all exposed sides of the lot, so as to  give the required number of sample bags.  
11.3 Preparation of samples  
11.3.1  Procedure  
From the top, mid dle and bottom porti ons of each of the selected bags (see 11.2)  approximately equal 
quantity of sugar shall be taken with the help of a suitable samplin g instrument. The sample collected from 
each of the bags shall be thoroughly mixed so as to give a compo site sample of 600 g . The composite sample 
thus prepared shall be divided  approximately into three equal parts; one for the purchaser, one for the 
suppl ier, and the third for  the referee and sea led air tight with particulars as given in 11.1 (f). 
11.3.2  Num ber of tests  
The com posite sample prepared as under 11.3.1 shall be tested for the characteristics as  prescribed in Table 
1. 
11.3.3  Criteria for conform ity 
The lot shall be declared as conformin g to this specification, when the test results o n various  characteristics 
obtained  on the composite sample satisfy the corresponding requirements.  DEAS  770: 20 22   
 
© EAC 20 22– All rights reserved