PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFT DRAFT UGANDA 
STANDARD  
  DUS ARS  468 
First  Edition  
2022 -mm-dd 
 
 Reference num ber 
DUS ARS 468: 2022 
© UNBS 2022  
   
Sorghum flour — Specificat ion 
 
 PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFTDUS ARS 468: 2022  
ii                © UNBS  2022  - All rights reserved  
 Compliance with this standard does not, of itself confer immunity from legal obligations  
A Uganda Standard does not purport to include all necessary provisions of a contract. Users are 
responsib le for its correct application  
© UNBS 2022  
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 PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFTDUS ARS 468: 2022  
© UNBS  2022  - All rights reserved                 iii National foreword  
Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) is a parastatal under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and 
Cooperatives established under Cap 327, of the Laws of Uganda, as  amen ded. UNBS is mandated to co -
ordinate the elaboration of standards and is  
(a) a member of International Organisatio n for Standardisation (ISO),  
(b) a contact point for the WHO/FAO Codex Alimentarius Commission on Food Standards, and  
(c) the National Enquiry Poin t on TBT Agreement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).  
The work of preparing Uganda Standards is carried out through Technical Committees. A Technical 
Committee is established to deliberate on standards in a given field or area and consists of represent atives of 
consumers, traders, academicians, manufacturers, government and other stakeholders.  
Draft Uganda Standards adopted by the Technical Committee are widely circulated to stakeholders and the 
general public for comments. The committee reviews the com ments before recommending the draft standards 
for approval and declaration as Uganda Standards by the National Standards Council.  
This Draft Uganda Standard, DUS ARS 468: 2022 , Sorghum flour — Specification , is identical with and has 
been reproduced from an African  Standard, ARS 468: 2022 , Sorghum flour — Specification , and adopted  as a 
Uganda Standard . 
The committee responsible for this document is Technical Committee UNBS/ TC 203, Cereals, pulses and 
related products and processes . 
Wherever the words, “ African  Standard " appear, they sho uld be replaced by "Uganda Standard ". AFRICAN 
STANDARD  DARS  
468  
Third Edition 20 22 
 
 Reference No. DARS 468:20222(E) 
ICS 67.060 
 
 
© ARSO 20 22 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sorghum flour — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DARS 468:2022 
ii © ARSO  2022 — All rights reserved   
Table of contents  
 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ .................  1 
3 Definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ... 2 
4 Quality requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................  2 
4.1 Raw materials  ................................ ................................ ................................ .............................  2 
4.2 General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ .................  3 
4.3 Specific requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ .................  3 
4.3.1  Particle size  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................  3 
5 Food additives  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  3 
6 Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ .............................  3 
6.1 Heavy metals  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..............................  4 
6.2 Pesticide residues  ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  4 
7 Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...... 4 
8 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ... 4 
9 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 4 
10 Methods of sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................  5 
Bibliography  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............  6 
 
  DARS 468:2022 
© ARSO  2022 — All rights reserved  iii Foreword  
 
The African Organization for Standardization (ARS) is an African intergovernmental organization made 
up of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Organization of African 
Unity (AU). One of the fundamental mandates of ARSO is to develop and harmoniz e African Standards 
(ARS) for the purpose of enhancing Africa’s internal trading capacity, increase Africa’s product and 
service competitiveness globally and uplift the welfare of African communities.  The work of preparing 
African  Standa rds is normally carried out through ARSO  technical committees. Each Member State  
interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be 
represented on that committee. International organizations, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), 
governmental and non -governmental  organizations , in liaison with ARSO , also take part in the work.  
 
ARSO  Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.  
 
The main task of technical committees is to prepare ARSO  Standards. Draft ARSO  Standards adopted 
by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an ARSO  
Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bo dies casting a vote.  
 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of 
patent rights. ARSO  shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  
 
This African Standard was prepare d by the ARSO Technical Committee on Cereals, pulses and derived  
products  (ARSO TC 12  )  
 
 
 
 
 
© African Organisation for Standardisation  2022 — All rights reserved* 
 
ARSO Central Secretariat  
International House 3rd Floor  
P. O. Box 57363 — 00200 City Square  
NAIROBI, KENYA  
 
Tel. +254 -20-2224561, +254 -20-311641, +254 -20-311608  
Fax: +254 -20-218792  
E-mail: arso@arso -oran.org  
Web: www.arso -oran.org  
  
                                                 
* 2022 ARSO  — All rights of exploitation reserved worldwide for African Member  States’ NSBs. 
 DARS 468:2022 
iv © ARSO  2022 — All rights reserved   
Copyright notice  
 
This ARSO document is copyright -protected by ARSO. While the reproduction of this document 
by participants in the ARSO standards development process is permitted without prior permission 
from ARSO, neither this docume nt nor any extract from it may be reproduced, stored or 
transmitted in any form for any other purpose without prior written permission from ARSO.  
 
Requests for permission to reproduce this document for the purpose of selling it should be 
addressed as shown  below or to ARSO’s member body in the country of the requester:  
 
 
© African Orga nisation for Standardisation 202 2 — All rights reserved  
 
ARSO Central Secretariat  
International House 3rd Floor  
P.O. Box 57363 — 00200 City Square  
NAIROBI, KENYA  
 
Tel: +254 -20-2224561, +254 -20-311641, +254 -20-311608  
Fax: +254 -20-218792  
 
E-mail: arso@arso -oran.org  
Web: www.arso -oran.org  
 
Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement. 
Violators may be p rosecuted.  
 
 
 
  DARS 468:2022 
© ARSO  2022 — All rights reserved  v Introduction  
 
The importance of sorghum in Africa can be adjudged from the fact that there is a wide variety of African 
traditional sorghum foods and beverages. These include: whole grain rice -type products, breads and 
pancakes, dumplings and couscous, porridges, gruels, opaque and cloudy beers, and non -alcoholic 
fermented beverages. Recent products include: instant soft porridge, malt beverages and lag er beer.  
 
This African Standard is a technical revision of the earlier ARS 468 :1987(E), Standard for sorghum flour  
which is hereby superseded and cancelled.  
 
 DARS 468:2022 
© ARSO  2022 — All rights reserved  1  
Sorghum flour — Specification  
 
1 Scope  
 
This African Standard specifies requirements , methods of sampling and test for sorghum flour obtained 
from whole or decorticated sorghum grain of varieties Sorghum bicolour  (L) Moench.  for human 
consumption.  It does not apply to grits or meal obtained from sorghum.  
 
 
 
2 Normative references  
 
The following referenced documents are indispensable for  the application 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.  
 
ARS 462, Sorghum grains — Specification  
 
ARS 53, General principles of food hygiene — Code of practice  
 
ARS 56, Prepackaged foods — Labelling  
 
AOAC Official Method 2001.04, Determination of Fumonisins B 1 and B 2 in corn and corn flakes — Liquid 
chromatography with immunoaffinity column cleanup  
 
CODEX Stan 192, General standard for food additives  
 
CODEX STAN 193, Codex general standard for contaminants and toxins in food and feed  
 
ISO 711, Cereals and cereal products — Determination of moisture content (Basic reference method)  
 
ISO 712 , Cereals and cereal products — Determination of moisture content — Routine reference 
method  
 
ISO 1871,  Food and feed products — General guidelines for the determination of nitrogen by the 
Kjeldahl method  
 
ISO 2171,  Determination of ash content  
 
ISO 4833, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
microorganisms — Colony -count technique at 30 degrees C  
 
ISO 5498,  Agricultural food products — Determination crude fibre content — General method  
 
ISO 3310 -1, Test sieves of metal wire cloth  
 
ISO 5985, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid  
 
ISO 6561 -1, Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Determination of cadmium content — Part 1: 
Method using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry  
 
ISO 6561 -2, Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Determination of cadmium content — Part 2: 
Method using flame atomic absorption spectrometry  
 
ISO 6579, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of  
Salmonella spp. 
 
AFRICAN STANDARD  DARS 468:20 22 
2 © ARSO  2022 — All rights reserved  ISO 6888 -1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration 
of coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) — Part 1: Technique 
using Baird -Parker agar medium  
 
ISO 6888 -2, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration 
of coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) — Part 2: Technique 
using rabbit plasma fibrinogen  agar medium  
 
ISO 6888 -3, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration 
of coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) — Part 3: Detection 
and MPN technique for low numbers  
 
ISO 7251,  Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection and 
enumeration of presumptive Escherichia coli — Most probable number technique  
 
ISO 9648, Sorghum — Determination of tannin  
 
ISO 11085, Cereals, cereals -based products and animal feeding stuffs — Determination of crude fat 
and total fat content by the Randall extraction method  
 
ISO 16050, Foodstuffs — Determination of aflatoxin B 1, and the total content of aflatoxins B 1, B2, G1 and 
G2 in cereals, nuts and derived product s — High-performance liquid chromatographic method  
 
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  to 0.95  
 
ISO 27085, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of calcium, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, 
potassium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, cobalt, molybdenum, arsenic, lead and cadmium by ICP -
AES 
 
ISO 24333, Cereals and cereal products — Sampling  
 
 
3 Terms and definition s 
 
For the purpose of this standard the following  terms and definition s shall apply . 
 
3.1 
sorghum flour  
product destined for human consumption which is obtained from sorghum grains ( Sorghum bicolour (L.) 
Moench ) through a process of milling during which the grain is cleaned, and the endosperm is reduced 
to a powder  
 
3.2 
food grade  packaging  material  
packaging material, made of substances which are safe and suitable for their intended use and which 
will not impart  any toxic substance or undesirable odour or flavour to the product   
 
3.3 
filth 
impurities of animal origin, including dead insects   
 
 
4 Requirements  
 
4.1Raw materials  
 
Sorghum  grains  from which the flour is obtained shall be complying with ARS 462.  DARS 468:2022 
© ARSO  2022 — All rights reserved  3  
4.2 General requirements  
 
4.2.1  Sorghum flour shall be: 
 
i. safe, wholesome and uniform in colour.  
ii. free from filth (impurities of animal origin, including dead insects) in  amounts which may present 
a hazard to human health.  
iii. practically free from live pests  
 
4.2.2  All processing of the sorghum grains including drying , milling or other treatment s of the  
sorghum, intermediate milling products and the milled sorghum flour shall be carried out in a manner 
that: 
 
a) minimizes loss of nutritive value, particularly protein  quality;  
 
b) avoids undesirable changes in technological properties of the sorghum flour;  
 
c) avoids having unground grains and hull in the flour.  
 
4.3 Specific requirements  
 
4.3.1  Particle size  
 
Using a standard method of sifting, not less than 85 per ce nt of the flour shall pass through a sieve of 
mesh diameter 1 µm for ‘medium' flour and 0.5 µm for ‘fine’ flour.  The sieve shall comply with ISO 3310 -
1. 
 
4.3.2  Sorghum flour shall conform to the specific requirements in Table 1  
 
Table 1 — Specific requirements  for sorghum flour  
 
S/NO  Characteristic  Requirement  Method of test  
1 Moisture content, % max. m/m  13.5  ISO 711 / ISO  712 
2 Total  ash content, % max.   1.7 ISO 2171  
3 Acid insoluble ash, % max.  0.40 ISO 5985  
4 Protein content, % by dry mass basis min. (Nx 6.25) 7 ISO 1871  
5 Crude fat content, % max.  4.7 ISO 11085  
6 Crude f ibre content, % max.  2.5 ISO 5498  
7 Tannin content %m/m max.  0.3 ISO 9648  
8 Total Aflatoxin (AFB 1+AFB 2+AFG 1 +AFG 2)), ppb, 
max 10 ISO 16050  
9 Aflatoxin B1 only, ppb, max  5 
10 Fumonisin, ppm, max  2 AOAC Official Method 
2001.04  
 
 
5 Food additives  
 
 Sorghum flour shall contain only permitted additives complying with CODEX STAN 192 . 
 
6 Contaminants  
 DARS 468:20 22 
4 © ARSO  2022 — All rights reserved  6.1 Heavy metal contaminants  
 
Sorghum flour  shall comply with those maximum limits for metal contaminants specified in CODEX 
STAN 193 .  
 
6.2 Pesticide residues  
 
Sorghum flour shall comply with those maximum residue limits established by the Codex  Alimentarius 
Commission for this commodity.  
 
 
7 Hygiene  
 
Sorghum flour  shall be produced and handled under hygienic conditions in accordance with ARS 53 
and shall comply with the microbial limits given in Table 2 when tested in accordance with the test 
methods prescribed therein.  
 
Table 2 — Microbiologi cal limits  
 
S/N Micro -organism(s)  Requirements  Method of test  
1 Total plate count, cfu/g  104 ISO 4833  
2 Staphylococcus aureus cfu/g max  102 ISO 6888  
3 Escherichia coli, cfu/g, max.  absent  ISO 7251  
4 Salmonella , per 25g, max.  absent  ISO 6579  
5 Yeasts and moulds,  cfu/g, max.  104 ISO 21527 -2 
 
 
8 Packaging  
 
Sorghum  flour shall be packed in food grade  packaging material,  which will safeguard the hygienic, 
nutritional and organoleptic qualities of the products.   
 
 
9 Labelling  
 
9.1 General labelling  
 
The following specific labelling requirements shall apply and shall be legibly and indelibly marked in 
accordance with the requirements of ARS 56:  
 
i) product name as “ Sorghum flour ” and the terms ‘Fine' or ‘Medium', in accordance with 4.3.1, 
shall appear in close proximity to the name of the food.  
 
ii) name, address and physical location of the manufacturer / packer/importer;  
 
iii) lot/batch/code number;  
 
iv) net weight, metric units ;  
 
v) the declaration “Food for Human Consumption’’;  
 
vi) storage instruction  as “Store in a cool dry place away from any contaminants’’;  
 
vii) Date of manufacture ; 
 DARS 468:2022 
© ARSO  2022 — All rights reserved  5 viii) best before / expiry date ; 
 
ix) instructions on disposal of used package;  
 
x) country of origin;  
 
9.2 Labelling of non-retail containers  
 
Information detailed  in 9.1 shall be  given  either  on the container or in accompanying documents. 
However, lot identification and the name and address of the  processor or packer may be replaced by 
an identification mark, provided that such a mark is clearly identifiable  with t he accompanying 
documents.  
 
 
10 Weights and measures  
 
Sorghum flour  shall be packaged in accordance with the weights and measures regulations of the 
destination country.  
 
NOTE Maximum package weight of 50 kg where human loading and offloading is involved’  
 
 
11  Sampling  
 
Sampling shall be don e in accordance with the ISO 24333 . 
 
  DARS 468:20 22 
6 © ARSO  2022 — All rights reserved  Bibliography  
 
 
 
EAS 95 :2011, Sorghum flour — Specification  
 
CODEX STAN 173 -1989 (Rev. 1 - 1995), CODEX Standard for sorghum flour  
 ARS 468:20 22 
© ARSO  2022 — All rights reserved