KENYA STANDARD       KS 1095 : 2022 
ICS 67.220.20  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Food seasoning mixtures — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© KEBS 20 22                                                                         Sixth  Edition 2022 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 KS 1095 :2022 
 
ii  © KEBS 2022 — All rights reserved  TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPRESENTATION  
 
The following organizations were  represented on the Technical Committee:  
Re-Suns Spices Limited  
Kenyatta University — Department of  Food, Nutrition and D ietetics  
Kapa – Oil Limited  
Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS)  
Government Chemist’s Department  
Unilever (K) Ltd.  
National Pub lic Health Laboratory Services  
Nestle (K ) Ltd.  
Deepa Industries Ltd.  
Kenya  Technical University  — Department of Food and Beverage Production  
Consumer Information Network  
Trufoods Ltd . 
Jomu Spice Firm  
Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute ( KIRDI)  
Kenya Bureau of Standards — Secretariat  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
REVISION OF KENYA STANDARDS  
 
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for improvements to published standards, addressed to the Managing Director, Kenya Bureau of Standards, 
are welcome.  
 
 
 
 
 
 Kenya Bureau of Standards, 2022 
 
Copyright. Users are reminded that by virtue of section  25 of the Copyright Act, Cap. 12 of 2001 of the Laws of Kenya, copyright 
subsists in all Kenya Standards and ex cept as provided under section 26 of this Act, no Kenya Standard produced by Kenya Bureau of 
Standards may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or transmitted by any means without prior permission in  writing 
from the Managing Director.  
 
 
 
 
 
 KENYA STANDARD        KS 1095 : 2022 
ICS 67.220.20  
© KEBS 2022 — All rights reserved  iii  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Food seasoning mixtures — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
KENYA BUREAU OF STANDARDS (KEBS)  
 
Head Office:  P.O. Box 54 974, Nairobi -00200, Tel.: (+254  020) 605490, 602350, Fax: (+254 020 ) 604031  
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Coast Region     Lake Region          Rift Valley Region  
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Fax: (+254  041) 229448    Fax: (+254 057) 21814  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 KS 1095 :2022 
 
iv  © KEBS 2022 — All rights reserved   
Foreword  
 
This Kenya Standard has been prepared by the Spices, Condiments and Culinary Herbs Technical 
Committee under the supervision of the Standards Projects Committee , and it is in accordance with t he 
procedures of the  Kenya  Bureau  of Standards . 
 
Food seasoning mixtures are blends of spices, herbs and other food additives used to enhance and vary the 
organoleptic (flavour, colour, aroma) properties of foods.  
 
They are selected to improve or bring out  some properties of foods which may otherwise have a monotonous 
flavour.  The standard specifies microbiological, chemical and food additive limits to guide the manufacturer 
and protect the consumer.  
 
This standard specifies the  quality and safety  requirem ents of the food seasoning mixtures sold in the 
Kenyan market.  
 
 
During the preparation of this standard , reference was made to the following documents:  
 
European Spices Association Specifications Quality Minima for Herbs and Spices.  
 
Guidelines for the Mi crobiological Exa mination of Ready to eat Foods — Food Standards , Australia 
and New Zealand.  
 
Microbiological Specification s for Savoury Dry Products pp 7 — 8, Dry Vegetables not Blanched or 
Decontaminated Products . 
 
Microbiological Specifications for Savo ury Dry Products p 15 ingredient group 8b, Decontaminated 
Spices, herbs and vegetables.  
 
 
Acknowledgement is hereby made for the assistance derived from these sources.  
 
 
 
 
 
  
KENYA STANDARD   KS 1095: 2022 
 
 
© KEBS 2016 — All rights reserved     1  
1 Scope  
 
This Kenya Standard specifies requirements, sampling and test methods  for food seasoning mixtures.  
 
This standard does not cover dehydr ated soups, broths, masalas and /or spices and herb mixtures.  
 
2 Normative references  
 
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application 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.  
 
KS EAS 38, Labelling of pre - packaged foods — General requirements  
KS EAS 39, General principles for food hyg iene 
KS CODEX STAN 193, Codex general standard for contaminants and toxins in foods  
 
KS CODEX STAN 192, Codex general standard for food additives   
  
KS EAS 39, General principles for food hygiene  
KS EAS 803, Nutrition labelling — Requirements  
KS ISO 7954 -1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — General guidance for enumeration of 
yeasts and moulds — Part 8: Colony count technique at 25 degrees C  
 
KS ISO 4832 -3, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration  of 
coliforms — Part 3: Colony -count technique  
 
KS ISO 6579 -6, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Part 6: Horizontal method for the detection 
of Salmonella spp.  
 
 
KS ISO 6888 -1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs ¾ Horizontal meth od for the enumeration of 
coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) ¾ Part 1: Technique using 
Baird -Parker agar medium  
 
KS ISO 7521, Microbiology  of food and animal feeding stuffs -- Horizontal method for the detection and 
enumeration of presumptive Escherichia coli -- Most probable number technique  
 
KS SO 793, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs -- Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
Clostridium perfrigens  -- Colony -count technique  
 
KS ISO 6633, Fruits ,Vege tables and derived products - Determination of lead content - Flameless atomic 
abbsorption Spectrometric Method  
 
 KS ISO 6634, Fruits , Vegetables and derived products  - Determination of Arsenic Content - Silver 
diethlydithiocarb amate spectrophotometric Metho d 
 
KS ISO 6637, Fruits , Vegetables and derived products  - Determination of Mercury content - Flameless atomic 
absorption method  
 
KS ISO 927, Spices and Condiments —Determination of extraneous matter and foreign matter content  
 
KS ISO928, Spices and condiment s –Determination of total ash  
 KS 1095: 20 22 
 
2  © KEBS 20 22 — All rights reserved  KS ISO 939, Spices and condiments – Determination of Moistu re content – Entrainment method  
 
KS ISO 930 , Spices and condiments ---Determination of acid insoluble ash  
 
KS EAS 39 ---Code of hygienic practice for food and drink man ufacturing companies  
 
KS ISO 948 –Spices and condiments -- Sampling  
 
KS ISO 16050, Foodstuffs  — Determination of aflatoxin B 1B1, and  the total contents of Aflatoxins B 1, B2, G1 1 
and G 2 in cereals, nuts and derived products — High performanc e liquid chroma tographic method  
 
3 Definitions  
 
For the purpose s of this standard, the following definitions shall apply:  
 
3.1  
Food  seasoning mixture   
Shall  be a product presented in powder form or moulded into cubes or other forms whose aim is to enhance 
colour, taste , flavour and / or thickness of a food  preparation  intended for human consumption  
  
 
3.2 
Meat  extra ct 
Shall  be the concentrated broth prepared through controlled evaporation  of an aqueous solution of lean  meat  
 
3.3 
GMP  
Shall  mean “Good Manufacturing Practic e” 
 
4 Requirements  
4.1 Permitted ingredients , complying  with the relevant Kenya standards.  
This may include:   
 
 
a) Herbs and spices.  
 
b) Edible starches  
 
c) Meat extracts  
 
d) Yeast extract.  
 
e) Chicken extract.   
 
f) Edible fat  
 
g) Edible salt  
 
h) Wheat flour  
 
i) Sugars  
 
4. 2 Gene ral requirements  
 
The food seasoning mixtures shall be free extraneous  matter and foreign matter content when determined by 
KS ISO 927  KS 1095: 2022  
© KEBS 20 16 — All rights reserved     3  
4. 3 Specific  requirements  
 
 Food seasoning  mixtures shall comply with the specific requirements given in Table 1 when t ested in 
accordance with tests methods specified therein   
 
Table 1 — Chemical  limits for seasoning mixtures  
 
SL No.  Characteristic  Maximum limit  Test method  
i) Moisture content ,% m/m  8.0 KS ISO 928  
ii) Total ash, % (m/m dry weight basis)    
KS ISO 939    a) Compacted form  60 a 
 b) Non-compacted form  27 
iii) Acid insoluble ash, % m/m  3.0 KS ISO 930  
a The ash content is high due to the fact that salt is a major ingredient. 
 
 
 
5 Food a dditives  
 
The food additives in the food seasoning mixtures shall comply  with Codex Stan 192 - Codex General 
Standard for Food Additives . 
 
 
6 Hygiene  
6.1 The product shall be produced and handled in accordance with KS EAS 39.  
6.2       The product shall comply with the microbiological limits given in Table 2 when tested in acc ordance 
with the test methods specified therein.  
 
 
 
Table 4  — Microbiological  limits for food seasoning m ixtures  
  
SL No.  
 Type of micro -organism  Maximum  counts 
cfu/g  Test Method  
i) Yeasts and m oulds  105 KS ISO 7954  
ii) Coli forms  10 2 KS ISO 4832  
iii) E. coli  Absent  KS ISO 7521  
iv) Staphylococcus aureaus  Absent  KS ISO 6888 -1 
v) Clostridium perfrigens  Nil KS ISO 7937  
vi) Salmonella spp.                      Absent /25 g KS ISO 6579  
 
7 Contaminants  
7.1 Pesticide residues  
The products shall comply wit h maximum limits residues set by Codex Alimentarius Commission.  
7.2 Heavy Metal s KS 1095: 20 22 
 
4  © KEBS 20 22 — All rights reserved   
The product shall comply with the microbiological limits given in Table 2 when tested in accordance with the 
test methods specified therein.   
                         
 
Table 3 — Heavy metal limits  in Food seasoning mixtures  
 
SL No.  Metal 
contaminant  Maximum limits, mg/kg (ppm)  Test Method  
i) Lead   2.0 KS ISO 6633  
ii) Arsenic   0.5 KS ISO 6634  
iii) Mercury   0.1 KS ISO 6637  
 
7.3 Mycotoxins  
Food seasoning mixtures shall not c ontain more than 10 ppb total aflatoxin, and 5 ppb for Aflatoxin B 1 when 
tested according to KS ISO 16050 – Determination of aflatoxin B 1 and  the total contents of aflatoxins B 1, B2, 
G1 and G 2 in cereals, nuts and derived products — High performance liqu id chromatographic method . 
 
8 Packaging  
Food seasoning mixtures shall be packed in food grade containers that secure the integrity and safety of the 
product.  
9 Labelling  
The containers shall be labelled in compliance with the requirements of KS EAS 38 and KS EAS 803. In 
addition, the following particulars shall be legibly and indelibly labelled on the container:   
a) The common name of the product as “Food Seasoning Mixture” or “Seasoning Mix  
b) The form of presentation, either in powdered form or in cubes; List of  ingredients used in the 
descending order  
c) net content in SI units;  
d) name and physical address of manufacturer;  
e) batch or code number;  
f) nutritional information;  
g) the date of manufacture and expiry date;  
h) instruction for storage and use; and  
i) Country of orig in. 
10 Sampling  
Sampling for food seasoning mixtures shall be done according  to KS ISO 948 – Spices and condiments  — 
sampling .