DEAS 989  
ICS 67.180.20   
 
© EAC 2019                                                                                                                           First Edition 2019 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Bee pollen — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 989: 2019  
ii © EAC  2019 – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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 DEAS 989: 2019  
© EAC 2019 – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessita ted 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 S tates, 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, consu mer 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 st andards, 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 ensur e that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible for this document is EASC/ TC 011, Apiary and apiary products . 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document ma y be subject of patent 
rights. EAC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 989: 2019  
 
© EAC 2019 – All rights reserved  1 
 Bee pollen — Specification  
1 Scope   
This Draft East African Standard specifies the requirements, sampling and test methods for bee pollen 
inten ded 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 undat ed references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
AOAC  Official method 923.03 Ash in flour  
AOAC Official method 985. 16 for determination of Tin in canned foods — Atomic absorption 
spectrophotometric method  
AOA C 999.11 Determination of Lead, Cadmium, Copper, Iron, and Zinc in Foods  
CAC/GL/50 , General guidelines on sampling  
EAS 38 , Labelling of pre -packaged food -general requirement  
EAS 39 , Hygiene in the food and drinks manufacturing industry — Code of practice  
EAS 804 , Claims on food — General requirements   
EAS 80 5, Use of nutrition and health claims — Requirements   
ISO 1666, Starch — Determination of moisture content — Oven -drying method  
ISO 3947 , Starch, native or modifi ed determination of fat content  
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  
ISO 6579 , Microbiology of food and feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of salmonel la spp  
ISO 6634, Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Determination of arsenic content — Silver 
diethyldithiocarbamate spectrophotometric method  
ISO 6888 -2, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
coag ulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) — Part 2: Technique using 
rabbit plasma fibrinogen agar medium  
ISO 7251, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection and 
enumeration of presumpt ive Escherichia coli — Most probable number technique   
2 © EAC  2019 – All rights reserved  
 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 products with water activity less than or equ al to 
0,95ISO 10520 , Native starch  — Determination of starch content  
ISO 16634 -2, Food products — Determination of the total nitrogen content by combustion according to the 
Dumas principle and calculation of the crude protein content — Part 2: Cereals, pul ses and milled cereal 
products  
3 Terms and definitions   
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 
bee pollen   
the result of the agglutination of pollens collected by worker bees from flowers, with nectar (and/or honey) and 
salivary substances  
3.2 
impurities  
any ma terial which is not characteristic to the product  including bee stings, bee wings, sand and stones  
4 Types of bee pollen  
4.1 Fresh bee pollen  
Pollen collected in the original form, with water content between 20 -30 %. Storage of such pollen should be in 
a freezer to avoid bacterial and mould contamination.  
4.2 Dessicated bee pollen  
Pollen processed through drying at temperatures not higher than 42ºC, with maximum water content of  6%.  
4.3 Monofloral bee pollen  
The pollen from the major taxon need to be not less than 80% (different taxa can be used for specific 
nutrit ional and therapeutic purposes)  
4.4 Multifloral bee pollen  
A mixture of pollen from different taxa where no taxon constitutes  more than 80  % 
5 Requirements  
5.1 General requirements  
Bee pollen shall; 
a) have characteristic appearance, colour, taste, odour and flavour depending on floral source;   
© EAC 2019 – All rights reserved  3 
 b) not have any defects like; off -odour and taste, moulds, fermented, rancid; and  
c) not contain impurities such as live or dead insects, larvae or eggs, propolis, wax, plant particles, soil, 
sand or any other matter which is not characteristics to the product.  
5.2 Specific requirements  
Bee pollen  shall also comply with the requirements given in Table 1 when tested in accordance with the test 
methods prescribed ther ein. 
Table 1— Specific r equirements for bee pollen  
S/N Parameter  Requirement/Limit  Test method  
i) Moisture, g/100  g, max . 
-Fresh bee pollen  
-Desiccated bee pollen   
30 
10  
ISO 1666   
ii) Carbohydrates,  g/100  g, min.  13 ISO 10520  
iii) Fat content, g/100  g, min. 1.5 ISO 3947  
iv) Protein content, g/100  g, min.  15 ISO 16634 -2 
v) Ash, g/100  g, max.  
-Total ash  
-Acid insoluble ash   
6 
0.3  
AOAC  923.03  
6 Heavy m etal contaminants  
Bee pollen  shall be free from heavy metals in amounts which may represent a hazard to human health and 
shall conform to the limits specified in Table 2 when tested in accordance with the test methods prescribed 
therein.   
Table 2  — Heavy metal contaminant limits for bee pollen  
S/N Heavy metal  Limit  
mg/kg , max.  Test m ethod  
i) Arsenic  1.0 ISO 6634  
ii) Lead  0.5 AOAC 999.11   
iii) Tin 5.0 AOAC 985.16  
iv) Cadmium  0.01  
AOAC 999.11  v) Mercury  0.03 
7 Hygiene  
Bee pollen  shall be processed and handled in hygienic manner in accordance with the EAS 39 and shall 
comply with the microbiological limits stipulated in Table 3 when tested in accordance with test methods 
specified therein.   
4 © EAC  2019 – All rights reserved  
 Table 3 — Microbiological limits for bee pollen  
S/N Type of micro -organism  Limit  Test method  
i) Total Plate Count (mesophylic), cfu/g max . 103 ISO 4833 -1 
ii) Yeast and moulds, cfu/g, max  102 ISO 21527 -2 
iii) E. coli, MPN/g  Absent  ISO 7251  
iv) Staphylococcus aureus  Absent  ISO 6888 -2 
v) Salmonella spp , per 25  g  Absent  ISO 6579 -1 
8 Packaging  
Bee pollen  shall be packaged in a food grade material that protects the  integrity and safety of the product.  
9 Weights and measures  
The volume and fill  of the container shall comply with weight s and measure s regulations in the respective 
partner state . 
10 Labelling  
In addition to the labelling requirements given in EAS 38, t he package shall be legibly and indelibly marked 
with the following information:  
a) name of the product as “Bee pollen”;  
b) form of the product: “Fresh” or “Desiccated”;  
c) name, location and physical address of the processor/packer;  
d) instructions for use;  
e) warning:  “This product may cause allergic reactions”  
f) country of origin;  
g) date of packaging;  
h) best before;  
i) instructions for storage;  
j) net content in SI unit; and  
k) batch/lot number.  
11 Nutrition al and health claims  
Any nutritional and health claims associated with thi s product shall be in accordance with EAS 805 and shall 
follow nutritional labelling concepts in accordance with EAS 804.   
© EAC 2019 – All rights reserved  5 
 12 Sampling  
Sampling of bee pollen  shall be done in accordance with CAC/GL 50.  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DEAS 989: 2019    
 
© EAC 2019 – All rights reserved