DRAFT KENYA STANDARD  DKS 523-2:2022  
ICS 67.060  
Sixth Edition  
  
 © KEBS 2022   
 Breakfast cereals — Specification  
Part 2: 
Flaked/puffed cereals (ready -to-eat)  
 
 
DKS 523-2: 2022  
ii © KEBS 2022  – All rights reserved  
 TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPRESENTATION  
The following organizations were represented on the Technical Committee:  
Ministry of Health — Division of Nutrition  and Dietetics  
Ministry of Trade , Industry  and Investment  — State Department of Industry  
National Cereals and Produce Board  
University of Nairobi  
Egerton University  
Nestle Foods  
Government Chemist’s Department  
National Public Health Laboratory  
Kenya Medical Research Institute  
Capwel Industries  
Salim Wazaran  Kenya Company Ltd  
Mombasa Maize Millers  
Kenya Bureau of Standards — Secretariat  
REVISION OF KENYA STANDARDS  
In order to keep abreast of progress in industry, Kenya Standards shall be regularly reviewed.  Suggestions for 
improvements to published standards , addressed to the Managing Director, Kenya Bureau of Standards, are 
welcome.  
© Kenya Bureau of Standards, 2022  
Copyright. Users are reminded that by virtue of Section 25 of the Copyright Act, Cap. 130 of 2001 of  the Laws of Kenya, copyright subsists 
in all Kenya Standards and except as provided under Section 25 of this Act, no Kenya Standard produced by Kenya Bureau of Standard s 
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or transmitted by any means without prior permission in writing f rom the 
Managing Director.   DRAFT KENYA STANDARD  DKS 523-2:2022  
ICS 67.060  
Second  Edition  
 
© KEBS 2022  – All rights reserved  iii 
  Breakfast cereals — Specification  
Part 2: 
Flaked/puffed cereals (ready -to-eat) 
Kenya Bureau of Standards,  Popo Road, Off Mombasa Road,  
P.O. Box 54974 - 00200,  Nairobi, Kenya  
 +254 020 6948000, + 254 722202137, + 254 734600471  
 info@kebs.org  
 @KEBS_ke  
 kenya bureau of standards (kebs)  
  
DKS 523-2: 2022  
iv © KEBS 2022  – All rights reserved  
 Foreword  
This Draft Kenya Standard was prepared by the Processed cereals and pulses  Technical Committee under the 
guidance of the Standards Projects Committee, and it is in acco rdance with the procedures of the Kenya Bureau 
of Standards . 
Breakfast cereal foods can be classified based on either the amount of time required for domestic cooking, the 
form of the breakfast cereal or the cereal used as a raw material. The types that re quire no cooking are called 
ready -to-eat cereals and these are available in a variety of forms. These ready -to-eat cereals are usually 
consumed with milk or water and with or without added sugar . The revision of this  standard aimed at reviewing 
quality com position parameters such as crude fibre, total ash to align then to current scientific knowledge and 
performance. In addition, safety parameters such as the heavy metal contaminants were aligned to current level 
within the Codex Standard for contaminants. The microbiological limits were also updated . 
This sixth edition cancels and replaces the fifth edition (KS 523-1:2015), which has been technically revised.  
During the revision  of this standard, reference was made to the following documents:  
Codex Standard CXS 193 -1995 , General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed .  
Codex Standard CXS 201 -1995, Standard for Oats  
Acknowledgement is hereby made for the assistance  derived from these sources.  DKS 523-2:2022  
© KEBS 2022  – All rights reserved  v 
  Contents  Page 
Foreword ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .....................  iv 
1 Scope ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..............  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ .....................  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ .....................  2 
4 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 2 
4.1 General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ .....................  2 
4.2 Specific requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ .....................  3 
5 Food additives  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................  3 
6 Hygiene requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ....................  3 
7 Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ . 3 
7.1 Heavy metal contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ .............  3 
7.2 Aflatoxin limit  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 4 
8 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ....... 4 
9 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  4 
10 Health and Nutrition claims  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............  4 
 
  DRAFT KENYA STANDARD  DKS 523-2:2022  
 
© KEBS 2022  – All rights reserved  1 
 Breakfast cereals — Specification  
Part 2: 
Flaked/puffed cereals (ready -to-eat)  
1 Scope  
This Draft Kenya Standard prescribes the requirements for ready to eat flaked/puffed breakfast cereals including 
cereal bars and muesli  
2 Normative referenc es 
The following referenced documents referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content 
constitutes requirements of thi s document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated 
references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies   
KS EAS 38  Labelling of pre -packaged foods — Specification  
KS EAS 39  Code of practice  for hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry  
KS EAS 803  Nutrition labelling — Requirements  
KS EAS 804  Claims — General requirements  
KS EAS 805  Use of nutrition and health claims — Requirements  
KS CXS 192  General Standard for Food Additives  
KS CXS 201  Standard for Oats  
KS ISO 712  Cereals and cereal products — Determination of moisture content (Basic reference method)  
KS ISO 6633 Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Determination of lead content — Flameless atomic 
absorption spe ctrometric method  
KS ISO 5985 Animal feeding stuffs - Determination of ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid.  
KS ISO 6579  Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of Salmonella 
spp. 
KS ISO  7251  Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection and 
enumeration of presumptive Escherichia coli — Most probable number technique  
KS ISO 11085  Cereals, cereals -based products and animal feeding stuffs -- Determination of crude fat and total 
fat content by the Randall extraction method  
KS 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  
KS ISO 20483 Cereals and pulses — Determination of the nitrogen content and calculation of the crude protein 
content — Kjeldahl method  
KS ISO 21527 -2 Microbiology of food and animal feedstuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of yeasts 
and moulds — Part 2: Colon y count technique in products with water activity less than or equal to 0.95   
2 © KEBS: 2022 : – All rights reserved  
 KS ISO 23637  Determination of cadmium content by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry with 
diluted nitric acid extraction  
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of th is document, the following terms and definitions apply.  
3.1  
Flaked  
ready to eat breakfast cereals made by pressing cooked grain grits through rollers or by extrusio n 
3.1 
dietary fibre  
carbohydrate polymers with ten or more monomeric units, which are not h ydrolysed by the endogenous 
enzymes in the small intestine of humans and belong to the following categories: edible carbohydrate polymers 
naturally occurring in the food as consumed; carbohydrate polymers, which have been obtained from food raw 
material by  physical, enzymatic or chemical means  as well as synthetic carbohydrate polymers, which have 
been shown to have a physiological effect of benefit to health as demonstrated by generally accepted scientific 
evidence to competent authorities . 
3.2  
puffed  
Ready to eat cereals made by exploding cooked grains from a pressurized chamber  
3.3  
muesli  
loose mixture of rolled cereal grains and other ingredients including dried fruits pieces, nuts and seeds  
3.4 
cereal bar  
breakfast cereal made of a mixture of diffe rent cereal grains which are either flaked or puffed with optional 
addition of other ingredients such as dried fruits, nuts, seed and may be coated with products like chocolates 
orany other suitable food coating  
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
4.1.1  The cereal flakes/puffs shall be prepared from clean, sound grains, e.g. corn, oats, wheat or rice, which 
complies with respective Kenya Standards.  
4.1.2  Where the cereal flakes/puffs are prepared from cereal flour, the flour used shall be of good quality 
and complying with the relevant Kenya Standards on cereal flours.  
4.1.3  In case of coated cereal bars, the coating ingredients shall comply with the relevant Kenya Standard.  
4.1.4  The flakes/puffs shall be tender, crispy, and reasonably uniform in size and of good flavour and colour.  
4.1.5  The cereal flakes/puffs shall possess a good characteristic taste and odour and shall be free from 
rancid, musty, sour and other undesirable tastes and odours.  
4.1.6  The flakes/puffs shall be free from insects and foreign matters.  
4.1.8  The wheat flaked biscuits shall be of good flavour, colour and of uniform size and design within the 
group. The product shall not be soggy.  DKS 523-2: 2022  
© KEBS 2022  – All rights reserved  3 
 4.2 Specific requirements  
4.1.1 The cereal flakes/puffs and flaked cereal biscuit s (ready -to-eat) shall comply with the requirements given 
in Table 1  
Table 1 – Specific requirements for ready to eat  flaked/puffed cereals ready to eat  
SL No  Parameter  Requi rement  
(%) Test m ethod 
i) Moisture, max.  Muesli  12 KS ISO 712  
 
 
 
KS 523 -1 Others  7.5 
ii) Protein, min. N x 6.25  5.0 KS ISO 20483  
iii) Total fat, max.  Flaked  puffed,  8 KS ISO 11085  
Muesli  cereal bars 14 
iv) Total ash, m ax. 6 KS ISO 2171  
v) Acid insolub le ash, max.  0.2 KS ISO 5985  
 
NOTE  It is recommend ed that the fat content of corn flakes/puff should  not exceed  4 %. 
 
4.1.2 The ready to eat  cereal flakes/puffs may contain optional ingredients such as fruits, nuts, dairy products, 
chocolate.  
5 Food additives  
Only the food additives permitted KS CXS 1 92 may be used without exceeding the limits provided.  
6 Hygiene requirements  
6.1 ready to eat cereal flakes/puffs shall be prepared  in premised  and handled in conformity  with KS EAS 39  
6.2 ready to eat cereal flake s/puffs shall comply with the microbiological limits given in Table 2.  
Table 2 — Microbiological limits for ready to eat cereal flakes/puffs  
Characteristic  Maximum l imits  Test method  
Salmonella sp. count/g  Shall be absent  KS ISO 6579  
Escherichia coli count/g  < 10 KS ISO 7251  
Staphylococcus aureus  
count /g Shall be absent  KS ISO 6888 -1 
Mould/yeast per gram  <500  KS ISO 21527 -2 
7 Contaminants  
7.1 Heavy metal contaminants   
ready to eat cereal flakes/puffs shall comply with the heavy metal contaminants given in Table 3.   
4 © KEBS: 2022 : – All rights reserved  
 Table 3 — Heavy metal contaminants limits  
Contaminant  Maximum l imit in mg/kg  Test method  
Lead  0.2 KS ISO 6633  
Cadmium  0.1 KS ISO 23637  
7.2 Aflatoxin limit  
The ready to eat cereal flakes/puffs shall not exceed total aflatoxins  specified in Table 4  of 10 ppb and 5 ppb 
for aflatoxins B1.  
Table 4 - Aflatoxin limits in rolled/flaked oats  
Parameter  Maximum limit ( µg/kg)  Method of test  
Total aflatoxin  10  KS ISO 16050  
Aflatoxin B 1 5 
 
8 Packaging  
ready to eat cereal flakes/puffs  shall be packed in well -sealed moisture proof food grade containers, which will 
protect the product from deterioration in quality and safety throughout the shelf life.  
9 Labelling  
ready to eat cereal flakes/puffs be labelled in accordance to KS EAS 38. In  addition to the requirement of KS 
EAS 38, the following information shall be provided  
a) Name of the product: The name of the product shall be ‘ XXX flaked breakfast cereals’  or ‘XXX puffed 
breakfast cereals’ ; where XXX refer to name of cereal (s) used.  
b) where  a product’s dietary fibre content exceed s 5 % m/m, a statement declaring that the product is not 
recommended for children under the age of 5 years  shall be included on the label in easily legible font  
c) Nutrients shall be declared in accordance to KS EAS 80 3 
10 Health and Nutrition claims  
Health and nutrition claims where used shall be in compliance to KS EAS 804 and KS EAS 805  
 
 
. DKS 523 -2:2022    
 
© KEBS 2022 – All rights reserved