DEAS 103 2: 2020  
ICS 67.1 00.20 
 
© EA C 2020                                                                                                                              1ST Edition 2020  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Cocoa butter  for food industry  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 103 2: 2020  
ii © EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  
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Violators may be prosecuted . DEAS 103 2: 2020  
© EAC  2020  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Contents  Page 
Foreword  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  iv 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
4 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  2 
5 Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...................  3 
6 Food additives  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ....... 3 
7 Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  4 
8 Pesticide residues  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 4 
9 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............  4 
10  Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .................  4 
11  Sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................  4 
 DEAS 103 2: 2020  
iv © EAC 2020  – 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 goo ds 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 Na tional 
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 i ncluding government, 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 in corporated before finalization of standards, in 
accordance with the Principles and procedures for development of East African Standards. XXXXXX.  
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 002, Coffee , Cocoa , Tea and 
related products .  
Atten tion is drawn to 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.  
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 103 2:2020  
 
© EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  1 
 Cocoa butter for food industry  — Specification  
1 Scope   
This Draft East African  Standard specifies the requirements, sampling and test methods for cocoa butter  for 
human consumption . 
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.  
DEAS 1030, Cocoa beans — Specification  
AOAC 960.31, Fatty acids ( water -insoluble) and butyric acid  
AOAC 975.13 -,  Unsaponifiable Matter in Cocoa Butter - Ether  
AOAC 999.11, Determination of Lead, Cadmium, Copper, Ir on, and Zinc in Foods, Atomic Absorption 
Spectrophotometry after Dry Ashing  
Codex Stan 192, Codex general standard for food additives   
CAC/GL 50; General guidelines on sampling  
CAC/GL 75, Guidelines on substances used as processing aids  
EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packaged foods — Specification   
EAS 39, Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry — Code of practice   
ISO 16050, Foodstuffs — Determination of aflatoxin B1, and the total content of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 
in cereals, nuts and derive d products — High-performance liquid chromatographic method    
ISO 16654 Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs ― Horizontal method for the detection of 
Escherichia coli O157  
ISO 6888 -1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs ― Horizontal me thod for the enumeration of 
coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) ― Part 1: Technique using 
Baird -Parker agar medium  
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 4833 -1, Microbiology of the food chain ― Horizontal method for the enumeration of microorganisms ― 
Part 1: Colony count at 30 degrees C by the pour plate technique   
2 © EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  
 ISO 15141, Cereals and cerea l products ― Determination of ochratoxin A ― High performance liquid 
chromatographic method with immunoaffinity column cleanup and fluorescence . 
3 Terms and definitions   
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.  
For the purposes of this document, the following terms 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 
cocoa butter  
fat obtained from cocoa nib and its derivatives.  
3.2 
free fatty acids  
substance released due to hydrolysis of triglycerides constituents of cocoa butter which impacts on the quality 
of the cocoa butter  
3.3 
unsaponifia ble matter  
undesirable substances frequently found dissolved in fat and oils which cannot be saponified by caustic 
alkalies but soluble in ordinary fat solvents  
4 Requirements  
4.1 Raw material  
Cocoa butter shall be made from cocoa beans co mplying with DEA S 1030   
4.2 General requirements  
Cocoa  butter shall:  
a) be in the form of a paste at room temperature ; and  
b) have  characteristic colour, taste and flavour of cocoa butter  
4.3 Specific requirements  
Cocoa butter shall comply with the specific limits given in Tabl e 1 when tested in accordance with the methods 
specified therein.  
Table 1 — Specific requirements for cocoa -butter  
SL/No  Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
i Free fatty acids,(expressed as 
oleic acid)  % m/m, max.  1.75 AOAC 960.31  
ii unsaponifiable matter,% m/m, 0.7  AOAC 975.13   
© EAC  2020  – All rights reserved  3 
 max.  0.35 (for press 
cocoa butter ) 
5 Hygiene  
5.1 Cocoa butter shall be prepared and handled in a hygienic manner in accordance with EAS 39 . 
5.2 Cocoa butter shall comply with the microbiological limits stipulated in Table 2 when tested in accordance 
with the methods specified therein . 
Table 2 — Microbiological limits for cocoa  butter  
S/N Micro -organism  Maximum limit  Test method  
i Escheric hia coli , cfu/ g Absent  ISO 166 49-2  
ii Staphylococcus aureus , cfu/g  Absent  ISO 6888 -1 
iii Salmonella spp per 25 g  Absent  ISO 6579 -1 
iv Yeast and moulds, cfu/ g 102  ISO 21527 -2 
v Total Plate Count, cfu/g  103 ISO 4833 -1 
 
6 Food additives  
6.1 No additives are permitted in this product  
6.2 Processing aids shall be used and comply with the limit specified in table 3 
Table 3 — Processing aid in cocoa butter  
Processing Aid  Maximum Level  
Hexane (62ºC -82ºC)  1 mg/kg excluding press cocoa butter  
 
6.3 The processing aids used in cocoa butter should be consistent with CAC/GL 75  
 
 
 
 
  
4 © EAC 2020  – All rights reserved  
 7 Contaminan ts  
Cocoa  butter shall not contain heavy metal at levels  exceeding the limits stipulated in Table 4, when tested 
in accordance with the methods stipulated therein .  
 
Table 4 — Maximum limits for heavy metal contaminants in cocoa  butter  
 
 
 
 
 
 
8 Pesticide residues  
Cocoa butter shall comply with the maximum residu al limits  for pesticides as established by the Codex 
Aliment arius online database . 
9 Packaging  
Cocoa butter shall be packaged in food grade material s that secures the integrity and the safety of the 
product.  
10 Labelling  
 
In addition to t he labelling requirements in EAS 38 , name of the product  shall be legibly and indelibly marked 
on the label , as “Cocoa butter ”.  
11 Sampling  
Sampling of cocoa butter shall be done in accordance with CAC/GL 50.  
 S/N Heavy metal  Maximum limit 
mg/kg  Test method  
 
i Lead (Pb)  0.5 ISO 12193  
ii Cadmium  0.5 AOAC 986 .15 
iii Arsenic (As)  0.5 AOAC 986. 15 DEAS 103 2: 2020  
   
 
© EAC 2020  – All rights reserved