DEAS 1132 : 2023  
ICS 67.220.20  
 
© EAC 2023                                                                                                                               First Edition 2023  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Natural vanilla extract — Specification  
 
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  
 DEAS 1132 : 2023  
ii © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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© East African Community  2023  — All rights reserved  
East African Community  
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.  
Violators may be prosecuted . DEAS 1132 : 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 ingredient  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..............................  2 
4.2 Optional Ingredients  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..............................  2 
5 Product characteristics ................................ ................................ ............. Error! Bookmark not defined.  
6 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  3 
6.1 General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  3 
6.2 Specific requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  3 
7 Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...................  4 
8 Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  4 
8.1 Pesticide residues  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 4 
8.2 Heavy metals  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..........  4 
8.3 Other contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............................  5 
9 Weights  and measures  ................................ ................................ ............. Error! Bookmark not defined.  
10 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...............  5 
11 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .................  5 
12 Sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................  5 
Bibliography  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................  6 
 DEAS 1132 : 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 Commit tee 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 t hat 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 Standa rds. 
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technologic al 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 005, Food additi ves. 
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.  DEAS 1132 : 2023  
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  v 
 Introduction  
Commercial vanilla products are produced f rom the cured, dried, and conditioned pods of fully mature fruit of 
the orchid genus Vanilla  by alcohol extraction . Of the 110 known species of vanilla, only Vanilla planifolia 
Andrews, Vanilla tahitensis  Moore, and Vanilla pompona  Shiede are of commercial  importance today. The 
vanilla species of commerce, V. planifolia  is used for a variety of purposes fragrance, vanilla flavouring and 
medicinal.  Vanillin content of V. planifolia  can yield 2 to 2.5 % and V. tahitensis  normally will produce no more 
than 1.2  to 1.5 % even under optimum conditions.  
This draft East African standard has been developed to keep up with advancements of the natural vanilla 
extract and their products and to ensure the safety and quality of the product traded in the markets in order t o 
safeguard the health of the consumers.  
 
 
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1132 : 2023  
 
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  1 
 Natural vanilla extract — Specification  
1 Scope  
This draft East African Standard specifies the requirements, sampling and test methods for natural vanilla 
extract products obtained from  pods of V. planifolia. A , V. tahitensis and V. pompona species of vanilla orchid 
for use 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 
requirem ents 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 Fo ods, 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,  
CAC/GL 50, General guidelines on sampl ing 
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  
EAS 104, Alcoholic beverages — Methods of sampling and test.  
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 products with water activity less than or equal t o 0,95  
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 products — High\-performance liquid chromatographic metho d 
 ISO 7952, Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Determination of copper  content — Method using flame 
atomic absorption spectrometry.   
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 terms and definitions apply.  
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in  
 standardization at the following addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platform: available a t http://www.iso.org/obp  
3.1  
vanilla pods  
whole fruit which is botanically a capsule of the vanilla plant  
3.2  
vanilla extract  
solution in aqueous ethyl alcohol of the sapid and odorous principles extractable from vanilla pods  
3.3   
vanillin  
component from which vanilla derives its flavour ch aracter and flavouring strength  
3.4  
food grade material  
material made of substances which are safe and suitable for their intended use and which will not impart any 
toxic subs tance or undesirabl e odour  or flavour  to the product  
4 Ingredients  
4.1 Essential ingredient  
Vanilla pod extractives, ethyl alcohol and water   
4.2 Optional Ingredients  
Natural v anilla extract may contain one or more of the following optional ingredients and  shall comply to the 
relevant East African standard:  
a) glycerin;  
b) propylene g lycol (usually no more than 2 %);  
c) sugar (including invert sugar);  
d) dextrose; and  
e) corn syrup (or corn syrup solids).   
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  3 
 65 Requirements  
5.1 General requirements  
Natural vanilla extract sh all: 
a) have the characteristic  aroma , flavour  and colour  depending on the vanilla pod ; and 
b) not be mixed with any synthetic flavour material.  
5.2 Specific requirements  
Natural vanilla extract shall comply with the physicochemical requirements in Table 1 when  tested in 
accordance with the test methods specified therein.   
4 © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 Table 1 — Physicochemical requirements for natural vanilla extract  
 
S/N Characteristic  Requirement  
(Single fold 
(x1) a Test method  
i Alcohol % (v/v), min  
35  
EAS 104  
iii Specific gravity, mi n 0.83 Annex A  
iv Vanillin content (mg/mL), min  1.0 ISO 5565 -2 
a A unit of vanilla constituent to be 378.5 g of pods  containing not more than 25 % 
moisture per 3.785 liters of finished extract  
7 Hygiene  
7.1 Natural vanilla extract shall be prepared and  packaged in premises built and maintained under hygienic 
cond ition in accordance with EAS 39 . 
7.2 The product shall comply with microbiological limits given in Table 2 when tested in accordance with the 
test methods specified therein.  
Table 2 — Microbiolo gical limits for natural vanilla 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 
 
 
8 Contaminants  
8.1 Pesticide residues  
Natural vanilla extract shall comply with pesticide residue limits established by the Codex Alimentarius 
Commission for this commodity.  
8.2 Heavy metals  
Natural vanilla 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.   
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  5 
 Table 3 — Permitted maximum level of heavy metals in natural vanilla  extract  
S/N Heavy metal  Maximum limit  
mg/kg  Test method  
i. Lead (Pb)  0.3 AOAC 999.11  
iii. Arsenic (As)  0.05 ISO 2590  
iv Cadmium (Cd)  0.01 AOAC 999.11  
v Mercury (Hg)  0.01 ISO 6637  
 
 
8.3 Other contaminants  
Natural Vanilla Extract shall comply with the contaminant limits specified in the latest edition of CODEX STAN 
193. 
10 Packaging  
Natural vanilla extract  shall  be packaged  in food grade  material  to safeguard  the safety,  hygienic,  nutritional 
and organoleptic  qualities  of the product.  
11 Labelling  
11.1 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 vanilla extract ”; 
11.2 The labelling shall be in English or any other official language used in the importing East African Partner 
State. 
12 Sampling  
Sampling  shall  be done  in accorda nce with CAC/GL 50.  
  
6 © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 Bibliography  
The US Code of Federal Regulations for Vanilla, 21 CFR 169.175 –169.182  
 
 DEAS 1132 : 2023    
 
© EAC 2023  – All rights  reserved