DEAS 1131 : 2023  
ICS 67.220.20  
 
© EAC 2023                                                                                                                               First Edition 2023  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Natural orange extract — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 1131 : 2023  
ii © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
This EAC document is copyright -protected by EAC. While the reproduction of this document by 
participants in the EAC standards development process is  permitted without prior permission from EAC, 
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© East African Community  2023  — All rights reserved  
East African Community  
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Tanzania  
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.  
Violators may be prosecuted . DEAS 1131 : 2023  
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Contents  Page 
Foreword  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  iv 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
4 Ingredients  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .............  2 
4.1 Essential ingredients  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  2 
4.2 Optional ingredients  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..............................  2 
5 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  2 
5.1 General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
5.2 Specific requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
6 Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...................  3 
7 Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  3 
7.1 Pesticide residues  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 3 
7.2 Heavy metals  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..........  3 
7.3 Other contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............................  4 
8 Weights and measures  ................................ ................................ ............. Error! Bookmark not defined.  
9 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............  4 
10 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .................  4 
11 Sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................  4 
Bibliography  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................  5 
 DEAS 1131 : 2023  
iv © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards 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 services 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 government, academia, consumer groups, pri vate 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 Standa rds. 
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 alw ays have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible for this document is Technical Committee EASC /TC 005, Food additives . 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be su bject of patent 
rights. EAC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  DEAS 1131 : 2023  
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  v 
 Introduction  
Natural orange extract is obtained from peels of Citrus sinensis  L. and/or Citrus aurantium  L by alcohol 
extraction . Natural orange extra ct are of commercial importance and used for a variety of purposes such as 
fragrance, flavouring, food manufacturing industry (beverages, candies, gelatins , frozen dairy products , baked 
goods and sauces ). Natural orange extract contain s ethyl alcohol, water and orang e extractives.  
This draft East African standard has been developed to keep up with advancements of the natural orange 
extract and to e nsure the safety and quality of the product traded in the markets in order to safeguard the 
health of the consumers.  
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1131 : 2023  
 
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  1 
 Natural orange extract — Specification  
1 Scope   
This draft East African Standard specifies the requirements and sampling and test method s for natural orange 
extract obtained from the peels of Citrus sinensis  .L and/or Citrus aurantium  L. for use as a flavouring agent in 
food products . 
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. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
AOAC 999.11, Determination of Lead,  Cadmium, Copper, Iron, and Zinc in Foods, Atomic Absorption 
Spectrophotometry after Dry Ashing  
AOAC 2015.01, Heavy Metals in Food Inductively Coupled Plasma –Mass Spectrometry  
AOAC 2000.09 Ochratoxin A in Roasted Coffee Immunoaffinity column HPLC method  
EAS 104, Alcoholic beverages — Methods of sampling and test  
ISO 17240  
CAC/GL 50, General guidelines on sampling  
Codex 193, General standard for contaminants and toxins in food and feed  
EAS 39, Code of practice for hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing  industry  
CODEX STAN 107, General standard for the labelling of food additives when sold as such  
ISO 4833, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
microorganisms – Colony \-count technique at 30°C  
ISO 6579, Microbiology of food and feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of salmonella spp  
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 pro ducts with water activity less than or equal to 0,95  
stuffs  
EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packaged foods — General requirements  
ISO 16649 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the enumeration of beta -glucuronidase -
positive Escherichia coli — Part 1: Colony -count technique at 44 degrees C using membranes and 5 -bromo -4-
chloro -3-indolyl beta -D-glucuronide  
ISO 16050 , Foodstuffs — Determination of aflatoxin B1, and the total content of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 
in cereals, nuts and derived prod ucts — High\-performance liquid chromatographic method    
2 © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 ISO 6637 , Fruits, vegetables and derived products -- Determination of mercury content -- Flameless atomic 
absorption method  
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of this document, the following ter ms and definitions apply.  
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp  
3.1  
orange fruit peel  
outer skin of either Citrus sinensis  L. or Citrus aurantium  L. 
3.2  
natural orange extract  
the solution of not less than 35% v/v aqueous ethyl alcohol of the sapid and odorous principle s extractable 
from orange peels  
3.3  
food grade material  
material mad e of substances which are safe and suitable for their intended use and which will not impart any 
toxic substance or undesirabl e odour  or flavour  to the product  
4 Ingredient s 
4.1 Essential ingredients  
.Orange fruit peel  extractives, ethyl alcohol and water complying with the relevant East African standards  
4.2 Optional  ingredients  
Natural orange extract may contain one or more of the following optional ingredients and shall comply to the 
relevant standard:  
a) glycerine;  and 
b) propylene g lycol. 
5 Requirements  
5.1 General requirements  
Natural orange extract shall:  
a) have the characteristic aroma, flavour and colour; and  
b) not be mixed with any synthetic flavour material.  
5.2 Specific requirements  
Natural orange extract shall comply with the physicochemical requirements in Table 1 when tested in 
accordance with the test methods specified therein.   
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  3 
 Table 1 — Physicochemical requirements for Natural orange extract  
S/N Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
i Alcohol % (v/v), min.  35 EAS 104  
ii pH 4 -  6.5 ISO 10523  
iii Specific gravity, min.  0.83 Annex A  
 
6 Hygiene  
6.1 Natural orange extract shall be prepared and packaged in premises built and maintained under hygienic 
cond ition in accordance with EAS 39 . 
6.2 The product shall comply with microbiological limits given in T able 2 when tested in accordance with the 
test methods specified therein.  
Table 2 — Microbiological limits for Natural orange extract  
S/N Microorganism  Maximum limit  Test method  
i. Total viable count, cfu/ml  104 ISO 4833 -1 
ii. Yeast and moulds,  cfu/ml  102 ISO 21527 -1 
iii. Salmonella spp  in 25 ml  Absent  ISO 6579 -1 
iv. E. Coli, cfu/ml  Absent  ISO 16649 -2 
7 Contaminants  
7.1 Pesticide residues  
Natural orange extract flavor shall comply with pesticide residue limits established by the Codex Alimentarius 
Comm ission for this commodity.  
7.2 Heavy metals  
Natural orange extract shall comply with the maximum levels for the heavy metals given in Table 3 when 
tested in accordance with the test methods specified therein.  
Table 3 — Permitted maximum level of heavy meta ls in natural orange extract  
S/N Heavy metal  Maximum limit  
mg/kg  Test method  
i. Lead (Pb)  0.3 AOAC 999.11  
 Tin (Sn)  250 AOAC 2015.01  
iii. Arsenic (As)  0.05 AOAC 999.11  
iv Cadmium (Cd)  0.01 AOAC 999.11  
v Mercury (Hg)  0.01 ISO 6637  
  
4 © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 7.3 Other conta minants  
Natural orange extract flavour shall comply with the contaminant limits specified in the latest edition of CODEX 
STAN 193.  
8 Packaging  
Natural orange extract flavour  shall  be packaged  in food grade  material  to safeguard  the safety,  hygienic,  
nutrit ional and organoleptic  qualities  of the product.  
9 Labelling  
9.1 In addition to the requirements in CODEX STAN 107 , each package shall be legibly and indelibly labelled 
with the name of the product as “Natural orange extract”;  
9.2 The labelling shall be in  English or any other official language used in the importing East African Partner 
State.  
11 Sampling  
Sampling  shall  be done  in accordance  with CAC/ GL 50 .  
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  5 
 Annex A  
(normative)  
 
Determination of  specific gravity  
A.1 Apparatus  
A.1.1  Pyknometer ,  50 ml capacity. 
A.1.2  Constant -Temperature Bath  provided with suitable pycnometer holders or clips and means for 
maintaining temperatures constant in the desired range.  
A.1.3  Thermometer - graduated in 0.1 ° C with the range of 0 to 50°C with sub -divisions at every 0.5° C 
A.1.4  Hypodermic Syringe , 30 mL capacity, of chemically resistant glass, equipped with a 152 mm needle 
made of stainless steel tubing.  
A.1.5 Balance,  capable of reproducing weighing  within 0.1 mg.  
A.2  Reagents  
A.2.1  Acetone — (Warning —Extremely flammabl e. Use adequate ventilation.)  
A.2.2  Isopentane — (Warning —Extremely flammable. Avoid buildup of vapors and remove all sources of 
ignition)  
A.3 Preparation of equipment  
Pyknometer shall be sufficiently cleaned with a suitable solvent, rinsing with pure, dry  acetone, followed by 
isopentane, and vacuum dryied.  
A.2  Procedure  
A.4.1  Weigh the empty pyknometer and record the weight, (W 0) 
A.4.2  By means of a hypodermic syringe, f ill the pyknometer with the extract/ alcoholic liquid sample 
brought to room temperatu re 20 ±0.1°C.  
A.4.3  Weigh the pyknometer with the alcoholic liquid thus filled at Py knometer. ( W1) 
A.4.4  Calculate the net mass  of alcoholic liquid in the pyknometer by subtracting the mass of the empty 
pyknometer.  (W1-W0) 
A.4.5  Divide the mass so obtaine d by the mass in air of 50 ml of distilled water in the pyknometer.  W2 
A.4.6  This gives the apparent specific gravity of the alcoholic liquid in the air.  
Specific gravity  
   
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8 © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 Bibliography  
 DEAS 1131 : 2023    
 
© EAC 2023  – All rights re served