DEAS 1007 : 2019  
ICS 67.200.10  
 
© EAC 2019                                                                                                                            First Edition 2019 
 FINAL DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Chia seeds  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 1007: 2019  
ii © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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 DEAS 1007: 2019  
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been nece ssitated 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 Part ner 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, 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 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 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 015, Oil seeds, edible fats 
and oils .  
Attention 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.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 FINAL DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1007: 2019  
 
© EAC 2019 – All rights reserved  1 
 Chia seeds  — Specification  
1 Scope   
This Draft East Africa Standard specifie s the requirements, method s of sampling and test for chia seed ( Salvia 
hispanica L.) intended for human consumption . 
This standard does not apply to chia seed as a planting material.  
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 (in cluding any amendments) applies . 
EAS 39 , Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry — Code of practice  
EAS 803 , Nutrition labelling — Requirements  
EAS 804 , Claims on food — Requirements  
EAS 805 , Use of nutrition and health claims — Requirements  
ISO 605, Pulses — Determination of impurities, size, foreign odour, insects, and species and variety — Test 
methods  
ISO 6579 , Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of Salmonella 
spp  
ISO 7251 , Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the de tection and 
enumeration of presumptive Escherichia coli — Most probable number technique  
ISO 16050 , Foodstuffs — Determination of aflatoxin B1, and the total content of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 
in cereals, nuts and derived products — High-performance liquid chromatographic method  
ISO 24333, Cereals, and cereal products — Sampling  
ISO 24557,  Pulses — Determination of moisture content — Air-oven method  
ISO 12193, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of lead by direct graphite furnace atom ic 
absorption spectrometry  
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:  DEAS 1007: 2019  
2 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 — ISO Online browsing pla tform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp  
3.1 
chia seed  
small oval seeds of the species Salvia hispanica. L. 
3.3 
foreign matter  
organic and inorganic materials other than  chia seed 3.5 
noxious seeds  
seeds other than c hia seeds which, if present in quantities above a certain limit, can have a damaging or 
dangerous effect on health, sensory properties or technological performance  
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
Chia seed shall : 
a) be practically free from filth in  amounts that may represent a hazard to human health;  
b) be free of off flavours and odours;  
c) be practically free from any organic and inorganic matter  
d) have a colour characteristic of the variety; and  
e) be free from toxic or noxious seeds that are commonly recog nized as harmful to health  
f) have characteristic colour  of the variety  
4.2 Specific requirements  
Chia seed shall comply with the specific  requirements given in Table 1  when tested in accordance with the 
methods specified therein . DEAS 1007: 2019  
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  3 
 Table 1 ―Specific requirement  for chia seed  
Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
Moisture and volatile matter , % m/m, max.  9.0 ISO 24557  
Foreign matter , %m/m, max . 0.1 ISO 605  
Acid insoluble ash  % m/m , max.  0.3 ISO 5985  
5 Contaminants  
5.1 Pesticide residues  
Chia seed shall conform to those maximum residue limits for pesticides established by the Codex Alimentarius 
Commission for this commodity.  
5.2 Heavy metals  contaminants   
Chia seed shall conform to those maximum levels given  in Table  2 when tested in acc ordance with the 
methods specified therein . 
Table 2 —Maximum levels  for heavy metal contaminants in chia seed  
S/N Heavy metal  Limits,  max. 
mg/kg  Test method  
i.  Lead  0.1  
ISO 6869  ii.  Arsenic  0.1 
 
5.3 Aflatoxin  
Total Aflatoxin shall not exceed 10 μg/kg while aflatoxin B1 shall not exceed 5 μg/kg when tested in 
accordance with ISO 16050.  
6 Hygiene  
6.1 Chia seed. shall be produced, prepared, handled and stored in accordance with EAS 39 . 
6.2 Chia seed shall comply w ith the microbiological limits given in Table 3 when tested in accordance with 
the method specified therein  
Table 3 — Microbiological limits in chia seed  
S/No  Type of micro -organism  Limit  Test method  
1 Salmonella per 25 g  Shall be absent  ISO 6579 -1 
2 E. coli MPN/g  Shall be absent  ISO 7251  
7 Packaging  
Chia seed shall be shall be packaged in containers made from food grade packaging material and sealed in a 
manner that will safeguard the hygienic, nutritional and organoleptic properties of the product  DEAS 1007: 2019  
4 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 8 Weights and measures  
Chia seeds  shall be packaged in accordance with the weights and measures regulations of the destination 
country.  
NOTE  EAC Partner States are signatory to the International Labour Organizations (ILO) for maximum package 
weight of 50 kg w here human loading and offloading is involved  
9 Labelling  
In addition to the  requirements of EAS 38, the name of the product as ‘chia seed’  shall be legibly and indelibly 
labelled;  
10 Nutrition and health claims  
Chia seed may have claims on nutrition and health. Such claims when declared shall comply  with EAS 803, 
EAS 804 and EAS 805.  
10 Sampling  
Sampling shall be carried out in accordance with ISO 24333 . 
 
 DEAS 1007: 2019    
 
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
  
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