DEAS 1170 :2023 
ICS 67.200.10  
 
© EAC 2023                                                                                                                           First Edition 2023 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
 
Cashew  Flour – Specification  
 
 
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY   DEAS 1170: 2023  
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  DEAS 1170: 2023  
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East A frican Standards has been neces sitated 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 good s 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 Nat ional 
Standards Bodies in Partn er 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 in cluding government, academia, c onsumer 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 inc orporated before finalization o f 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 Stand ards 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 015, Oil seeds, edible fats 
and oils .  
Attention is drawn to  the possibility that some of t he elements of this document may be subject of patent 
rights. EAC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  
 
 
 
 
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1170:2023  
 
 Cashew  Flour – Specification  
1 Scope   
This d raft East African Standard spec ifies requirements , sampling an d test  methods  for cashew  flour 
obtained from milling of cashew kernels derived from nuts of cashew tree (of vairieties of Anacardium 
occidentale  L.) intended for human consumption.  
2 Normative references   
The foll owing documents are referred to in the tex t in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requirements of thi s docu ment. For dated reference s, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced docume nt (in cluding any amendments) applies . 
Codex Stan 193 , General standard for contaminants and toxins in food and feed  
EAS 3 8, Labelling of pre -packaged fo ods — Specification  
EAS 39, Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry — Code  of practice  
EAS 803  Nutrition l abelling — Requirements  
EAS 804, Cl aims  — General requirements  
EAS 805, Use of Nutrition and health claims  — Requirements  
ISO 665, Oilseeds — Determination of moisture and volatile matter content  
IS0 729 Oilseeds — Determination of acidity of oils  
ISO 735, O ilseed resid ues — Determination of ash inso luble in hydrochloric acid  
ISO 6579 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the detection, en umera tion and 
serotyping of Salmonella — Part 1: Detection of Sal monella spp.  
ISO 6888 -1 Microbiology of food and animal feed ing stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus  and other species) — Part 1: Technique using 
Baird -Parker agar medium  
ISO 16050 , Foodstuffs — Determ ination of aflatoxin B1, and the tot al content  of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and 
G2 in cer eals, nuts and derived products  — High-performance liquid chromatographic method  
ISO 16649 -2 Microbiology of food  and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enu merat ion of 
beta-glucuronidase -positive Escher ichia coli — Part 2: Colony -count technique at 44 degrees C using 5 -
bromo -4-chloro -3-indolyl beta -D-glucuronide  
ISO 21527 -2 Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration  of 
yeasts and moulds — Part 2: Colony count t echnique in products with water activity less than or equal to 
0.95 
ISO 21294 Oilseeds – Manual or automat ic discontinuous sampling  
3 Terms and definitions   
For the p urposes of this document, the following  terms and definitions apply .  DEAS 1170:2023  
 3.1 cashew  flour  
product obtained from milling raw/roasted cashew  kernels  
 
3.2 foreign matte r 
all organic or inorganic matter such as insects, insect fragments and mites  other than cashew  flour. 
3.3 food  grade  packaging  material  
packaging  material,  made  of substances  which  are safe and suitable  for the intended  use and which  
will not  impart  any toxic substance  or undesirable odor  or flavor to  the product  
4  Requ irements  
4.1 General requirements  
Cashew  flour shall;  
a) be of good quality and f ree from signs of spoilage  
b) be fre e from foreign matter;   
c) be free from foreign odours and undesirable flavo ur and/or taste;  
4.2 Specific requirements  
Cashew  flour shall comply with th e specific requirement s given in Table 1 , when tested in accordance w ith 
the method s specified therein.  
Table 1―Spe cific requirement  for Cashew  flour  
S No  Characteristics  Requirements  Test methods  
1 Moisture and volatile  matter 
content  % (m/m) max.  8 ISO 665  
2 Free fatty acid, % (m/m) 
max  2 ISO 729  
3 Acid -insoluble ash (on dry 
basis) % m/m, max.  
 1 ISO 735  
5 Hygi ene 
5.1 Cashew  flour shall be produced, processed, handled and stored in accordance with EAS 39.  
5.2 Cashew  flour shall comply with the microbiological l imits given in T able 2  when te sted in      
accordance with the method specifie d therein.  
Table 2 ― Microbiological  Limits for Cashew  flour  
S/N Microorganism  Requirement  
 Test methods  
1 Salmonella per 25 g   Shall be absent  ISO 6579 -1 
2 E. coli MPN/g  Shall be absent  ISO  16649 -2 
3 Yeast and moulds, cfu/g, 
max.  103 ISO 21527 -2  
4 Staphylococcus  aureu s, CFU/g 100 ISO 6888 -1  DEAS 1170:2023  
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  3 
 6 Contaminants  
6.1 Pesticide residues  
The maximum limit for Diquat  residue shall be  0.02 mg/kg  . 
6.2 Aflatoxins  
Aflatoxin levels in cashew flour  shall not exceed the limits given in Table 3 when tes ted in accorda nce with 
the test method spe cified therein  
Table  3 — Aflatoxin  limits  for cashew f lour 
S/No. Characteristic  Maximum limit  
µg/kg  Test method  
i.  Total  aflatoxin  10 
ISO 16050  
ii.  Aflatoxin B 1 5 
7 Packaging  
Cashew  flour shall be packaged in containers made from food grade packa ging mate rial and sea led in a 
manner that wi ll safeguard the hygienic, nutritional and organoleptic properties of the product  
9 Labelling  
In addition to the lab elling requirements specified in EAS 38  and EAS 803 , the name of the product shall 
either be “Cashew  flour’ or ‘Cashew kernel flour ’ or ‘Cashew nut flour ’ or ‘Cashew powder ’  
10 Nutrition and health claims  
Cashew  flour may have claims on nutrition and health. Such cla ims when declared shall comply with EAS 
804 and EAS 805   
10 Sampling  
Sampling sh all be done in accordance with ISO 21294  
 DEAS 1170:2023    
 
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved