DEAS 1136 : 2023  
ICS 67.120  
 
© EAC 2023                                                                                                                        First Edition 2023  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Raw Ground Meat Products — Specification    
 
 
 
 
 
 
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 1136 : 2023  
ii © EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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 DEAS 1136 : 2023  
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved    iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African St anda rds has been necessitated 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 ser vices 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 g overnment, 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 African Standards.  
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 implementing .  
The committee responsible  for this document is Technical Committee EASC/TC  004, Meat , poultry, game, 
eggs and related products . 
Attention is drawn t o 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.DEAS 1136 : 2023  
iv © EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  
 Introductio n 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DRAFT E AST AFRIC AN STANDARD  DEAS 1136 : 2023  
 
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  1 
 Raw Ground Meat Products — Specification     
1 Scope   
This draft East African Standard specifies the requirements, sampling and test methods for raw 
ground/minced meat products. These products include, but not limited to, meat b alls, patties, meat burgers, 
meat rolls and ground kebabs that are intended for fur ther processing before consumption. This standard 
does not include meat sausages.  
2 Normative references   
The following  referenced  documents  are indispensable  for the application  of this document.  For dated 
references, only the edition cited applies. For u ndated references, the latest edition of the referenced  
document  (including  any amendments) applies.  
ISO 17294 -2 Water quality — Application of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP -MS) — Part 
2: Determination of selected elements including ura nium isotopes   
ISO 6633  Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Determination of lead content — Flameless atomic 
absorption spectrometric method   
ISO 5961  Water quality — Determination of cadmium by atomic absorption spectrometry  
ISO 6637  Fruits, vegetab les and derived products — Determination of mercury content — Flameless atomic 
absorption method   
ISO/TS 17728 Microbiology of the food chain — Sampling techniques for microbiological analysis of food and 
feed samples   
CAC/MRL 2, Maximum residue limits for  veterinary drugs in food  
ISO 6579 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the detection, enumeration and 
serotyping of Salmonella — Part 1: Detection of Salmonella spp.  
ISO 6888 -1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizon tal method for the enumeration of 
coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) — Part 1: Technique using 
Baird -Parker agar medium  
ISO 10272 -2, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for detection and enumeration of  
Campylobacter spp. — Part 2: Colony -count technique  
ISO 11290 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the detection and enumeration of 
Listeria monocytogenes and of Listeria spp. — Part 1: Detection method  
ISO 16654, Microbiology of food  and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of 
Escherichia coli O157:H7   
CODEX STAN 192, General standard for food additives  
EAS 12, Potable water — Specification  
EAS 35, Edible salt — Specification   
2 © EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  
 EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packaged foods — General requirements  
EAS 39, Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry — Code of practice  
EAS xxx, Methods for the chemical analysis of meat and meat products  
CAC/RCP 58  Code of Hygienic Practice for Meat  
ISO/TS 20224  Molecular biom arker  analysis — Detection of animal derived materials in foodstuffs and 
feedstuffs by real time PCR: All parts  
ISO 936:1998  Meat and meat products — Determination of total a sh 
AOAC 2011.04  Protein in Raw and Processed Meats  Automated Dye -Binding Method   
 ISO 1 443 Meat and meat products — Determination of total fat content   
3 Terms  and definitions   
For the pur poses of this document, the follow ing terms and definitions apply . 
3.1 
meat  
whole or all parts of slaughtered animal carcasses that are intended for and ha ve been judged as safe and 
suitable for human c onsumption  
3.2  
ground meat  
boneless meat that has been reduced in to particles  
3.3 
meat content  
permissible amount of meat together with fats and connective tissue for a particular species  
3.4 
fat content  
amount of fat permissible in a meat mixture for  a particular species  
3.5 
patties  
disc-like meat products formed fr om ground meat  
3.6 
fillers  
these  are mostly plant substances, low in protein and high in carbohydrates that are used in increasing the 
product vo lume  
3.7 
binders  
agents that are mixed ho mogenously in the processing to help in the structural consistency o f the meat 
product  
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements   
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved    3 
 4.1.1   The meat from which the product is prepared shall be of a quality suitable for hu man consumption 
and free from objectiona ble odours.   
 4.1.2   The product shall be prepared, handle d and deliv ered under hygienic conditions.  
4.1.3  The product shall be prepared in a facility complying with EAS 39.  
4.2  Raw material requirements  
4.2.1  Meat  
Meat shall be derived from food anim als slaughtered in a hygienically managed s laughter house complying 
with CAC/RCP 58 -2005  
4.2.2  Optional  Ingredients  
All optional ingredients used shall be of food grade quality and comply with applicable EAS Standa rds.   
4.2.2.1  Fillers and binders  
These  include:  
Carbohydrates such as b ut not limited to meal, flour or starch  prepared from grain, potato or sweet potato; 
bread, biscuit rusk or bakery products.  
a) Proteins such as milk powder, skim milk powder, butter mi lk powder, caseinate, whey powder, egg 
protein, dried blood products, veg etable protein products.  
b) Sugars such a s Sucrose,  fructose, dextrose (glucose), lactose, maltose, glucose syrup (including corn 
syrup).    
c) Spices, seasonings a nd condiments complying w ith respective East African Standards.  
d) Salt complying with EAS 35.  
e) Water complying with EAS 12  
5 Essential com position an d quality requirements  
Fresh coarsely ground meat products shall comply with the requirements given in Table 1 when tested in 
accorda nce with the methods given therein.  
 Table 1 — Compositional requirements for fresh coarsely ground meat products  
S/N Charac teristic  Limit for final 
product (raw), %  Test method  
 Total meat content, mina. 50 AOAC 2011.04    
 Fat content, max.  30 ISO 1443  
 Total ash, max.  3.0 ISO 936   
Note:  a Protein  analytical data can be used to calculate the appar ent t otal meat 
content of meat products.   
4 © EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  
 6 Hygiene requirements  
Raw ground meat products shall be pr oduce d, processed, handled, and stored in accordance w ith the 
appropriate sections of CAC/RC P 58 and EAS 39  
7 Safety requirements  
7.1 Microbiological l imits  
raw ground meat products shall comply with the microbiological requirements given in Table 2 when tested in 
accordance with th e methods given therein.  
Table 2 — Microbiological limits for raw ground meat products   
S/N Micro -organism  Max. limit  Test method  
 Total viable count, CFU/g  <106 ISO 4833  
 Escherichia  coli O157:H7 in 25 g  Absent   ISO 16654  
 Staphylococcus aureus , CFU/ g  103 ISO 6888 -1 
 Salmone lla ssp in 25 g  Absent  ISO 6579 -1 
 Listeria monocytogenes  in 25 g  Absent  ISO 11290 -1 
 Campyl obacte r a in 25 g  Absent  ISO 10272 -2 
a for poultry products.  
8 Pesticides and veterinary drug residues  
8.1 Veterinary drug residues  
The products covered by this standard shall comply with the m aximum residue limits specified in CAC/MRL 2  
8.2 Pesticid e residues  
raw ground meat products shall comply with the maximum residue limits set by Codex Alimentarius 
Commission.  
9 heavy metal contaminants  
raw ground meat products shall not contain heavy me tal contaminants in excess  of the limits given in Table 3  
when tested in accordance with the methods mentioned therein.  
  Table 3 — Limits of heavy  metal contaminants for raw ground  meat products   
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved    5 
 S/N Contaminant  Maximum  limit, 
ppm Test method  
 Arsenic (A r) 0.1  
ISO 17294 -2 
 Lead (Pb)  0.1  ISO 6633  
 
 Cadmium (Cd) 0.05  ISO 5961  
 
 Mercury (Hg)  0.03  ISO 6637  
10 Meat identification  
The identification/isolation of meat species shall be done according to ISO/TS 20224: al l parts  
11 Packaging  
11.1  Packagi ng shall be done in food-grade  packaging materials that p rotect the product from any physical, 
microbiological, chemical or any other type of contamination during handling, storage and distribution.  
11.2  The packages sha ll be able to withstand the rigors  of handling and transportation and shall not be 
exposed to direct sun or rain.  
11.3  For the burgers, food-grade  separators shall be used in the layer packing of patties.  
12 Labelling  
Labelling  of packages shall be done  in accordance with the requirement s stipulated in EAS 38, and shall 
include the following:  
a) description /name of the product as appropriate;  
b) list of ingredients ; 
c) allergens declaration;  
d) name, location and address of manufacturer;  
e) net weight, in metric units ; 
f) declaration as “r aw” product;  
g) species of animal from which the meat has been observed  
h) declaration of minimum meat content by %;  
i) date of production/manufacture;  
j)  Best before  date 
k) batch number;  
l) instructions for use (shall inform the end -user to cook the p roduct for recommended period of ti me 
before consumption);  
m) storage conditions and temperatur e of storage; and  
n) country of origin   
6 © EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  
 13 Sampling  
Sampling shall be carried out in accordance with CAC/GL 50. For microbial analysis samples shall be carried 
out in  accor dance with ISO/TS 17728.  DEAS 1136 :2023    
 
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved