TBS/AFDC 17 (823) DTZS   
  
 
  
 
DRAFT TANZANIA STANDARD  
 
Spiced honey - Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TANZANIA BUREAU OF STANDARDS  
 
©TBS 202 2 – All rights reserved                                                                                                                                       TBS/AFDC 17 (823) DTZS   
 0.  Foreword  
Spiced honey is the product that  is prepared by mixing honey with one or more spices such as cinnamon, 
cardamo m, garlic,  ginger, lemon grass, mint, black pepper and other spices  applied in powder or infusion 
form.  
This Tanzania standard was prepared to ensure the safety and quality of spiced honey produced and/or 
marketed in Tanzania.  
In developing this standard  assist ance was drawn from manufacturers  who provided necessary 
information and samples.  
In reporting the result of a test or analysis made in accordance with this standard, if the final value 
observed or calculated, is to be rounded off, it shall be done in accordance with TZS 4 .  
1 Scope  
This Tanzania Standard specifies requirements, sampling and method of test for spiced honey  intended  
for human consumption.  
2 Normative references   
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this standard. For dated 
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced 
document (including any amendments) applies: -  
AFDC 17 (888) CD3 , Honey - Determination of ash   
AFDC 17 (893) CD3 , Honey - Determination of acidity (Titrimetric Method)  
AFDC 17 (894) CD3, Honey - Determination of moisture content   
Codex Stan 192 General Standard for Food Additives  
TZS 109, Food processing units – Code of hygiene  
TZS 118, Microbiology of food and animal feedin g stuffs – Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
microorganisms – Colony -count techniqu e at 30Oc  
TZS 122 , Microbiology of food and feeding stuffs – Horizontal method for the detection of salmonella spp  
TZS 125, Microbiology of food and animal feeding st uffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species)  
TZS 1502 Fruits, vegetables and derived products – Sampling and methods of test Part 14: 
Determination of arsenic content - Silver di ethyldithocarbamate spectrophotometric method  
TZS 1581, Determination of cadmium content  
TZS 2426 -1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs - Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
yeasts and moulds - Part 1: Colony count technique in products wi th water activity greater than 0.95  
TZS 268,  General atomic absorption spectrophotometric method for determination of lead in food and 
food stuffs.  
TZS 4, Rounding off numerical values  
TZS 538, Labelling of pre -packaged foods — General requirements                                                                                                                                       TBS/AFDC 17 (823) DTZS   
 TZS 730 -2, 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  
TZS 799, Foodst uffs – 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  
 
TZS 852 , Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs – Horizontal method for the detection and 
enumeration of Listeria monocytogenes  
3. Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of this Tanzania standard, the following terms and definitions shall apply.  
3.1. honey  
natural sweet substance produced by honeybees of genus Apis from th e nectar of blossoms or from 
secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant sucking insects on the living parts of the plants, 
which honeybees collect, transform and combine with specific substances of their own, deposit, 
dehydrate, store and leave in the honey comb to ripen and mature.  
 
3.2. spiced  honey  
 product obtained by mixing honey with spices  in powder form or by infusion.  
 
3.3. foreign matter  
organic or inorganic material other than Honey or spices . 
4. Requirements  
4.1 General requ irements   
4.1.1  Taste  and odour of Spiced  honey  shall be pleasant and characteristic of the designated 
product. It shall not give rancid taste or must smell and shall be free from adulteration.  
4.1.2. Spices used as powder form shall be ground to fineness .  
4.1.3 Spiced honey  shall be free from extraneous matter, dirt, fungal growth and insect 
infestation.  
4.2 Specific requirements  
Spiced honey  shall comply with the requirements specified in Table 1, when tested by the specified 
method.  
                 Table 1 - Specific Requirements for Spiced honey  
Characteristics  Requirements  Methods of tests  
Moisture, Max %  20 AFDC 17 (894)CD 3 
Acidity, Max meq/Kg  40 AFDC 17  (893)CD 3 
Total Ash, Max%  0.6 AFDC 17 (888)CD 3 
Fiehes test  Negative  
 
 
5. Food additives  
 
The use of food additives in Spiced honey  shall be in accordance with Codex Stan 192.   
                                                                                                                                      TBS/AFDC 17 (823) DTZS   
  
6. Hygiene  
Spiced honey shall be prepared under Good Hygienic Practices as stipulated in TZS 109  and shall 
comply  with the microbiological limits given in Table 2.  
 
Table 2: Microbiological req uirement for spiced Honey  
S/No  characteristic  Maximum limit  Test method  
1 E. coli, cfu/g  Absent  TZS 730 -2  
2 Yeast/moulds, cfu/g     102 TZS 2426 -1 
3 Total plate count, cfu/g  103 TZS 118  
4 Salmonella  spp /25g  Absent  TZS 122  
5 Listeria monocytogenes ,cfu/g  Absent  TZS 852  
6 S. aureus , cfu/g  Absent  TZS 125  
 
 
7 Contaminants  
7.1 Heavy metals  
 Spiced honey  shall not contain any metal contaminants in exces s of levels specified in Table 3. 
 
Table 3: Requirements heavy metal in  spiced Honey   
 
S/No  Characteristic  Maximum limit (mg/kg)  Method of test  
1 Arsenic  0.2 TZS 1502  
2 Lead  0.5 TZS 268  
3 Cadmium  0.1 TZS 1581  
 
7.2 Pesticides Residues  
Spiced honey  shall comply with those maximum pesticide residue limits established by the  Codex 
Committee on Pesticide Residues  
 
7.3. Aflatoxin  
Spiced honey shall not have more than 5 ppb for Aflatoxin B1 and 10 ppb for total aflatoxin 10 ppb when 
tested according to TZS 799   
 
8. Sampling and test  
8.1. Sampling  
 
Representative sample of the p roduct shall be drawn as prescribed in Annex A.  
 
8.2. Tests  
 
Tests shall be carried out in accordance with the methods prescribed in Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3  
 
8 Packing, marking and labelling  
8.1 Packing  
  
Spiced honey shall be packaged in a food gra de material that protects the integrity and safety of the 
product.  
 
 
                                                                                                                                      TBS/AFDC 17 (823) DTZS   
 8.2 Marking and labelling  
8.2.1 In addition to the labelling requirements given in TZS 538 , The following particulars shall 
legibly and indelibly be marked or labeled on each bag/contain er:  
a) Name of the product” spiced honey ”  
b) List of ingredients in order of proportion;  
c) Batch number;  
d) Date of packing and expiry date;  
e) Name, contact and physical address of the manufacturer;  
f) Net weight;  
g) Country of origin;  
h) Storage condition;  
i) Direction for u se and  
j) Disposal of used packages.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                                                                      TBS/AFDC 17 (823) DTZS   
  
 
  Annex A 
 
 A.1 General requirements for sampling of  Spiced  honey  
 
 In drawing, preparing, storing and handling of samples, the following precautions and  
 directions shall be ob served:  
 
 A.1.1 . Samples shall be taken in a protected place not exposed to damp air, dust or soot;  
 A.1.2 .The sampling instrument shall be clean and dry when used;  
 A.1.3 . Precautions shall be taken to protect the samples, the material being sampled, the sampling      
instrument and the containers for samples, from adventitious contamination;  
 A.1.4 .The samples shall be placed in clean and dry glass or food grade plastic containers. The sample 
containers shall be of such a size that they are almost complet ely filled by the sample;  
A.1.5  Each container shall be sealed airtight after filling and marked with all details of sampling, code     
number and other important particulars of the consignment;  
A.1.6  Samples shall be stored in such a manner that the tempe rature of the material does not vary unduly 
from normal temperature.  
 
A.2 Scale of sampling  
A.2.1. The number of containers to be sampled from each lot shall depend on the size of  
the lot and it shall be done according to table 5.  
 
A.2.2. The containers shall be selected at random from the lot.  
 
 
Lot size (N)  Number of containers to be selected (n)  
Up to 25  
 6 
 
26 – 150 
 9 
 
151 – 500 
 12 
 
501 and above  
 15 
 
 
 
A.3 Preparation of sample  
Draw with suitable sampling instrument approximately equal quantit ies of material from  
different parts of the containers selected as above. These materials shall be mixed together to  
form a composite sample weighing about 300 g ms. This composite sample shall be divided  
into two equal parts and transferred to clean an d dry containers, sealed air tight and labelled.  
One of these composite samples is intended for testing and the other for reference.