DEAS 798 : 2021 
ICS 67.230 
 
© EAC 20 22                                                                                                                            Second  edition 
2022 
 COMM ITTEE DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Lipid food supplements  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 798 : 2022 
ii © EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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© East African Community  2018 — All rights reserved  
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 DEAS 798 : 2022 
© EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  iii 
 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 
harm onized standard ization, 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 Sta ndards (EAS). T he Committee 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 deve loped throug h Technical Com mittees 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 St andards Bodi es in the 
Partn er 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 r eview, to ke ep pace with te chnological 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 018, Nutrition  and foods for 
special dietary uses . 
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.  
This second edition  (DEAS 798 : 2022)  cancels and replaces  the first edition (EAS 798: 2013), which has been 
technically revised.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 798 : 2022 
 
© EAC 201 8 – All rights reserved  1 
 Lipid food s upplements  — Specifica tion  
1 Scope   
1.1 This Draft East Afr ican Standard specifies the requi rements , samp ling and test methods  for lipid food 
supplements used for  compl ementing the normal diet with essential fatty acids.  
1.2 This draft standard covers  lipid food supplements primarily providing essential fatty aci ds and presented 
in forms such as capsules, pa ste or liquid. The pr oduct may be taken directly or added to another food  with 
the primary objective of increasing the energy content of the food and provide essential fatty acids.  
1.3 This draft standard does not cover lipid food suppl ements intended for special dietary uses or  
medical /therapeutic purposes . 
2 Normative referenc es  
The following documents are referred to in the t ext in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requirements of  this document. For dated references, only the edit ion cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the refer enced  document (including any amendments) applies.  
AOAC 971.21, Mercury in food — Flameless Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric me thod 
AOAC 973.34, Cadmium in food — Atomic Absorpti on Spectrophotometric method  
AOAC 996.06, Fat (total,  saturated, and unsaturated ) in foods — Hydrolytic extraction — Gas 
chrom atographic method  
CODEX  STAN 192 , General sta ndard for food additives  
EAS 38, General standard for the labelling of pre -packaged f oods 
EAS 39, Hygiene in the food and dri nk manufacturing industry – Code of practice  
EAS 803, Nutrition labelling — Requirements  
EAS 804, Claims on foods — Requirements  
EAS 805, Use of nutritional and health claims — Requirement  
ISO 11290 -1, Microbiology o f food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection and  
enumeration of Listeria monocyto genes — Part 1: Detection method  
ISO 12193,  Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of lead by direct graphite furnace a tomic  
absorption s pectros copy  
ISO 15304,  Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of the content of trans fatty aci d isomers o  
vegetable fats and oi ls — Gas chromatographic method   
2 © EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  
 ISO 21527 -2, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enu meration of  
yeasts and moulds — Part 2: Colony count technique in products with water activity less than or equal to 0.95  
ISO 2590, General method for the determination of arsenic — Silver diethyldithiocarbam ate photometric  
method  
ISO 4832, Microbio logy of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of  
coliforms — Colony -count technique  
ISO 4833 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the enumeration of microorganisms — 
Part 1: Colony count at 30 °C by the  pour plate technique  
ISO 5508 , Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Analysis by gas chromatogra phy of methyl esters of fatty  
acids  
ISO 6579 -1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of 
Salmonella  spp. 
ISO 68 88-1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of  
coag ulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) — Part 1: Technique using  
Baird -Parker agar medium  
3 Terms and definitions   
For the pur poses of this document, the following  terms and definitions shall apply . 
3.1 
lipid food s upplement  
product composed of primarily fat and/or oil formulated in manner that it provides essential fa tty acids  
presented in forms such as capsules, paste or liquid , intended to be taken in measured small qua ntities but  
not in conventional foo d form and  whose primary purpose is to supplement the normal diet. The product may  
contain vitamins and/ or minerals as a way of improving its nutritional content  
3.2  
essential fatty acid  
fatty acids that humans and other animals must ingest because the body requires th em for good health but 
cannot synthesis them such as α --linolenic acid (omega -3 fatty acid), linoleic acid (omega -6 fatty acid) and 
oleic acid (omega -9 fatty acid) . 
3.3 
saturated f atty acid  
saturated fatty acids that contain no double bonds and have general formula of R - 
 
3.4 
trans -fatty acid  
all th e geometrical isomers of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids having non -conjugated, 
interrupted by at least  one methylene group, carbon -carbon double bonds in th e trans configuration  
 
3.5  
unsaturated fatty acid  
component of the phospholipids i n cell membranes and help maintain membrane fluidity. Phospholipids 
contain a variety of unsatu rated fatty acids, but n ot all of these can be synthesized in the body.  
 
  
© EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  3 
 3.6 
Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)  
an omega -3 fatty acid that is found along with eicosape ntaenoi c acid (EPA) in cold -water fish, including tuna 
and salmon  
3.7 
Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) 
polyunsaturated fatty acid with the first double bond located on the third carbon from  the terminal methyl group  
4 Requi rements  
4.1 Gener al require ments  
4.1.1  The lipid food supplement shall have acceptable flavour and odour and shall be free from ranc id, 
musty or any other for eign odour or flavour characteristic of spoilage.  
4.1.2  The product shall be free from d irt, extraneous and deleteri ous material.  
4.2 Specific  requireme nts 
4.2.1  The product shall contribute no mo re than 10 % of t otal energy requirement in a day.  
4.2.2  The product composition shall at minimum, provide the essential fatty aci ds and both saturated fatty  
acids and tra ns fatty acid in compliance to the l imits in Table 1.  
NOTE It is recommended that iron and copper should be less than 5 mg/kg and 1 mg/kg respect ively, as exceeding  this 
limit may contribute to the product going ran cid. However, when appropriately coated forms are used, the limit may be  
exce eded without the product going rancid.  
 
Table 1 — Limits of essential fatty acids, saturated fa tty acids and transfatty acids in lipid food  
supplements/100 g  
S/N.  Paramete r Kcal contribution  Grams  % Contribution  of 
ener gy Methods 
of test 
min.  max.  min.  max.  min.  max.  
1.  Linoleic acid (Omega -
6 fatty acid)  31.5 45 3.5  5 3.5  5 ISO 5508  
2.  α-linolenic acid 
(Omega -3 fatty acid)  3.5 5.4 0.4  0.6 0.4  0.6 
3.  Docosahexaenoic acid 
(DHA)  1  1.5 0.1  0.2 0.1  0.2 
4.  Saturated fatty acids 
(SFA)  NA 70.5  NA 7.8  NA 8.0 AOAC 
996.06  
5.  Transfatty acids (TFA)    NA 9.2  NA 1  NA 1 ISO 
15304  
NA me ans Not Applicable   
 
4.2.3  The sources o f lipids or essential fatty acids may be either natural or synthetic and their selection shall  
be based on considerations such as  safety and bioavailability. In addition,  purity criteria shall take into account  
Food and Ag riculture Organization/World Healt h Organization (FAO/WHO) standards.   
4 © EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  
 5 Heavy metal contaminants  
The lipid food supplements shall not have any heavy metals in amou nts that can cause harm to the  
consumers and in particular, the product shall comply with the  heavy metal limits when tested in  accordance  
with the methods specified in Table 2.  
Table 2 — Limits of heavy metal contaminants in lipid food supplements  
S/N Contaminant  Maximum limit,  mg/kg  Test method  
1.  Arsenic  0.1 ISO 2590  
2.  Lead  3 ISO 12193  
3.  Cadmi um  3 AOAC 973.34  
4.  Mercury  0.1 AOAC 971.21  
6 Hygiene  
6.1 The lipid food supp lements shall be prepared and packaged under  hygienic conditions in accordance 
with EAS 39.  
6.2 The product shall be free from pathogenic microorganisms an d in particular  shall conform to the limi ts 
when tested in accordance with the test methods in Table 3.  
Table 3 — Microbiological limits for lipid food supplements  
S/N  Microorganisms  Maximum Limit s test method  
i.  Total plate count, cfu/g, max.  103 ISO 4833 -1 
ii.  Total Coliform s cfu/g  absent  ISO 4832  
iii.  Salmonella spp, per25g  absent  ISO 6579 -1 
iv.  Staphylococcus aur eus cfu/g  absent  ISO 6888 -1 
v.  Listeria spp per 25 g  absent ISO 11290 -1 
vi.  Mould  and yeas t, cfu/g  102 ISO 21527 -2 
 
7 Packaging  
Lipid food supplements shall be packaged  in food grade, non -absorbent materials  which do not have adverse effects on 
the composition of the product including its nutritional value, prop erties and appearance.  
 
NOTE 1 Packaging materials may be required to meet different regulations in the differe nt destina tion Partner 
States  
8 Labelling  
8.1 General labelling requirements  
Lipid food supplements sh all be labelled in accordance with EAS 38.  
The amount of n utrients, including essential fat ty acids shall be declared on the label in accordance with EAS 
803  
© EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  5 
 Nutrition and health claims on li pid food supplements may be made in accordance with EAS 804 and EAS 805 
 
8.2 Specific labelling re quirements  
8.2.1  Name of the produ ct 
The name of the product shall be ‘Lipid food supplement’ ;  
Source of lipid  shall be declared  
8.2.2  Nutritional information  
The label at the min imum shall declare the total energy and parameters provided in Table 1. Where the  
product is not packaged in 100 g, the percentage contribution by t he parameters in table shall be declared.  
8.2.3  Instructions for use 
The label shall indicate how the produc t is to be used in relation to the targeted age group, quantity, frequency  
and any special conditions and precautions that need to be observed.  
8.3 Specific prohibition and statements  
8.3.1  The lab elling, presenta tion and advertising shall not attribute lipid food supplement  the property of  
preventing, treating or curing a human disease . 
8.3.2  The label shall contain a warni ng not to exceed the stated daily dose recommended by the  
manufacturer as in dicated in 8.2.3.  
8.3.3  The lab el shall have a statement to the effect that food supplements should not be used as a  
substitute for meals or normal diet.  
In addition,  the label, pre sentation or advertisement shall not include any mention sta ting or implyin g that a  
balanced diet cannot pr ovide appropriate quantities of nutrients in general.  
8.3.4  The label shall have a statement to the effect that the product should be stored out of r each of  
children.  
8.4 Other labelling requirements  
In additi on to the above  requirements, the following shall be incl uded on the label:  
a) name, and physical  address of the manufacturer;  packer, distributor, importer, exporter or vendor;  
b) country of origin ; 
c) ingredients in descending order of p roportions;  
d) food additives by their speci fic names;  
e) date of manufacture;  
f) expiry date;  
g) batch/ l ot number;   
6 © EAC 20 22 – All rights reserved  
 h) condition of  storage;  
i) declaration of content of EPA and DHA , if concentrated fish oil is used;  
j) net content; and  
k) allergen(s) if an y. 
 
 
 DEAS 798 : 2022   
 
© EAC 20 22 – All rights reser ved