KENYA STANDARD           KS 1093: 2018 
                                                                                                                     
ICS 67.220.10  
  
 
   
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
Cardamon powder — Specification 
 
 
   
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
   
 
  
 KS 1093: 2018  
                             KEBS 2018 — All rights reserved ii 
 
 
  
© KEBS 2018             Third  
Edition 2018   
TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPRESENTATION 
 The following organizations were represented on the Technical C ommittee: 
 
Ministry of Health — Public Health Department  Government Chemist’s Department 
Jomo Kenyatta University  o f  Agriculture and Technology 
Technical University of  Kenya — Department of Food and Beverag e 
Production. 
Consumer Information Network 
Unilever (K) Ltd. Tropical Heat Ltd. 
Jomu Spice Firm 
Adamji Multi Supplies Top Foods EA Ltd. University of Nairobi — Departm ent of Food Technology & Applied  Nutrition  
Kenya Bureau of Standard s — Secretariat 
   
 
  
 
 
 
REVISION OF KENYA STANDARDS 
 In order to keep abreast with t he progress in the industry, Ken ya standards shall 
be regularly reviewed. Suggestion s for improvement of published  standards are 
welcome and should be addressed to the Managing Director, Kenya  Bureau of 
Standards.  
  
 iii 
 
 
 
©Kenya Bureau of Standards, 2018 
 
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Cap. 12 of 2001  of the Laws of Keny a, copyright subsists in all Kenya 
Standards and except as provided under Sect ion 26 of this Act, no Kenya 
Standard produced by Kenya Bureau of  Standards may be reproduced, stored 
in a retrieval system in any form or transmitted by any means without prior 
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K E N Y A  S T A N D A R D                        KS 1093: 2018 
                              ICS 
67.220.10  
 
  
 
  
 
   
 
  KS 1093: 2018  
                             KEBS 2018 — All rights reserved iv  
Cardamon powder — Specification 
 
  
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
KENYA BUREAU OF STANDARDS (KEBS) 
 
Head Office:  P.O. Box 54974, Nairobi-002 00, Tel.: (+254 020) 605490, 
602350, Fax: (+254 020) 604031 
E-Mail: info@kebs.org,  Web:http://www.kebs.org  
 
Coast Region    L ake Region         R i f t  V a l l e y  
Region  
P.O. Box 99376, Mombasa-80100  P.O. Box 2949, Kisumu-40100       
P.O. Box 2138, Nakuru-20100 
Tel.: (+254 041) 229563, 230939/40               Tel.: (+254 05 7) 23549, 22396       
Tel.: (+254 051) 210553, 210555 
Fax: (+254 041) 229448   Fax : (+254 057) 21814              
  Foreword 
 
This second edition of this Kenya Standard was prepared by the Spices and 
Condiments Technical Committee under the guidance of the Food I ndustry  
 vStandards Committee, and it is in accordance with the procedure s of the Kenya 
Bureau of Standards. 
 
Cardamon powder is one of the import ant and commonly used mater ials for 
spicing foods. The standard specifies the minimum requirements and test 
methods for cardamon powder. 
 This Third edition of the standard  cancels and replaces the se cond edition 
which has been withdrawn.  It in corporates a table on heavy met al contaminant 
limits, reviewed physical and chem ical limits and microbiologic al limits that refer 
to  reviewed test methods in line with updated harmonised test methods now 
used in the EAS and global markets.  
The standard also incorporates a p ackaging clause that secures the integrity 
and safety of the product.  
During the preparation of this st andard, references were made t o the following 
documents:   
IS: 1907- 1984 Specification for cardamon capsules and seeds. 
 ISO 882:1980 Specification for cardamons. 
 
SLS 166:1980 Specification for cardamons. 
 Acknowledgment is hereby made for the assistance derived from t hese sources. 
 KENYA STANDARD          KS 1093: 2018  
KEBS 2018 — All rights reserved                                                                                                                     1  
 
Cardamon powder— Specification 
 1 Scope 
 
This Kenya standard prescribes th e requirements for cardamom po wder. 
  
2 Normative references 
 
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the ap plication of this 
document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies.  For undated references, 
the latest edition of the refer enced document (including any am endments) applies. 
 
KS ISO 4832:, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method 
for the enumeration of coli fo rms — Part 3: Colony-count techni que. 
 
KS ISO 6579, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — P art 6: Horizontal 
method for the detection of Salmonella spp.  
 
KS ISO 6888-1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs H orizontal method for 
the enumeration of coagulase-pos itive staphylococci (Staphyloco ccus aureus and other 
species)  Part 1: Technique usi ng Baird-Parker agar medium. 
 
KS ISO 16654, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs  —  Horizontal 
method for the detection of  Escherichia coli 0157. 
ISO 16654:2001/Amd 1:2017 -  Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs  —  
Horizontal method for the detect ion of Escherichia coli 0157 
Annex B: Result of interlaboratory studies... 
 
KS ISO 6633, Fruits ,Vegetables  and derived products- Determina tion of lead 
content- Flameless atomic absor ption Spectrometric Method. 
 
 KS ISO 6634, Fruits ,Vegetables and derived products- Determin ation of 
Arsenic Content - Silver diethlyd ithiocarbamate spectrophotomet ric Method. 
 
KS EAS 39--- Code of hygienic practice for f ood and drink manufacturing companies  
 KS 1093: 2018 
 
     KEBS 2018 — All rights reserved 2KS ISO 16050, Foodstuffs — Determination of Aflatoxin B 1,and the total contents of 
Aflatoxins B 1, B2, G 1 and G 2 in cereals, nuts and derived  products — High performance 
liquid chromatographic method  
 
Codex Stan 193 --Codex Standard f or Contaminants in food and fe eds. 
 
Codex Stan 192- Codex standa rd for Additives in Foods 
 
KS EAS 38, Labelling of pre-packaged foods.  
 
KS ISO 927:2009  Spices and c ondiments - Determination of extraneous matter and foreign 
matter.  ISO 927 :2009 Cor. 1 :2012 
 
 
KS ISO 948 – Spices and condiments -- Sampling 
 
KS ISO 16050, Foodstuffs — Determination of Aflatoxin B 
1,and the total contents of 
Aflatoxins B 1, B2, G 1 and G 2 in cereals, nuts and derived  products — High performance 
liquid chromatographic method  
 
Codex Stan 193 --Codex Standard f or Contaminants in food and fe eds. 
 
Codex Stan 192- Codex standa rd for Additives in Foods 
 
 
KS ISO 6571, Spices, condiments and herbs — Determination of vo latile oil content 
(hydro distillation method). 
 
KS ISO 928-Spices and condiments -- Determination of total ash.   
 
 KS ISO 930-Spices and condiments -- Determination of acid-inso luble ash.  
KS ISO 939: --Spices and condiments -- Determ ination of moisture content --  Entrainment 
method . 
 
KS ISO 2253- Curry powder - Specification. 
 
ISO 15061: --Water quality -- Determ ination of dissolved bromat e -- Method by liquid 
chromatography of ions.  
 
           KS 1093: 2018 
 
KEBS 2018 — All rights reserved    3 
 
 
  
 
 
3 Description 
 Cardamon powder is the product obt ained through grinding of cle an dry 
cardamoms ( Elettaria cardamomum ) either as whole c apsule, separated seeds 
or combination of both.  
4 Requirements 
 4.1 General requirements  
4.1.1  Cardamon powder is the product ob tained through grinding of cl ean dry 
Cardamons ( Elettaria cardamomum ) either as whole capsule, separated seeds 
or combination of both. 
 
4.1.2  Cardamon powder shall be free from  foreign matter and insect i nfestation. 
It shall be free from any added colouring matter, preservatives  and adulterants. 
 
4.1.3  Cardamon powder shall be ground to such finene ss that 99 % of the 
material passes th rough 300-micron sieve. 
 
4.2 Physical and chemical requirements  Cardamon powder shall comply with  the physical and chemical lim its given in 
Table 1. 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
Table 1 — Physical and chemi cal limits for Cardamon powder KS 1093: 2018 
 
     KEBS 2018 — All rights reserved 4 
Sl No. Characteristic Limit 
 Test method 
i) 
 Moisture content, %, by 
mass, max. 10.0 
 KS ISO 939:  
ii) 
  Total ash, %by mass, 
max.on dry matter basis. 10.0 KS ISO 928  
iii) 
 Acid-insoluble ash, % by 
mass, max. on dry matter basis. 
 1.0 
  KS ISO 930  
iv) 
 Volatile oil, %, by mass, 
min. 1.5 
 KS ISO 6571  
v) 
 Extraneous matter 
 Negligible KS ISO 927  
vi) Foreign matter 
 Nil 
 KS ISO 927 Cor. 1 
vii) 
 
   Starch % by mass, max. 
 
a)  By acid hydrolysis method  
b)  By diastase hydrolysis 
method  
 
50 ?  40 ?  
 
KS ISO 2253  
viii) Test for lead bromate Negative ISO 1506  
 
4.3 Heavy metal contaminants 
 
Cardamon powder shall comply with t he heavy metal contaminants limits given 
in Table 2.  
 
Table 2 — Heavy metal contaminan ts limits for cardamon powder 
 
Sl 
No. Characteristic Limit Test method 
 
i)   
Lead as Pb, mg/kg. max. 
  
2.5  KS ISO 6633           KS 1093: 2018 
 
KEBS 2018 — All rights reserved    5ii) 
 Arsenic as As, 
mg/kg, max.  
 0.5 
 KS ISO 
6634, 
 
   
 
  
 
  
 
4.4 Microbiological limits  
Cardamon powder shall comply with  the microbiological limits gi ven in Table 3.  
  
Table 3 — Microbiogical limits for cardamom powder 
 
Sl 
No Characteristic Limit  Test method 
 
i) E. Coli Shall be absent 
in 1 g KS ISO 16654 
ii) Coli form, max. Shall be absent 
in 1 g  
KS ISO 4832  
Iii ) 
 Yeast and 
moulds 103 per g KS ISO 21527-2 
 
iv) Salmonella Shall be absent 
in 25  g.  
KS ISO 6579  
v ) Staphylococcus 
aureaus Shall be absent 
in 1 g.  
KS ISO 6888-1- 
3 
  5 Hygiene  
Cardamon powder  shall be manufact ured under hygienic condition s complying 
with  KS EAS 39, the Public Health Act, Cap. 242 Laws of Kenya,  Food Drugs 
and Chemical Substances Act, C ap. 254 of the Laws of Kenya.  KS 1093: 2018 
 
     KEBS 2018 — All rights reserved 6 
5.1 Aflatoxins 
 
Cardamon powder  shall not have more than 10 ppb total aflatoxi ns and 5 ppb 
Aflatoxin B1, when tested according to KS ISO 16050. 
 
6 Weights and measures  6.1 Fill of the container  
 
 Fill of the container shall comp ly with the Weights and Measur es Act, Cap. 513 
of the Laws of Kenya and conf orm to Cleaner Production Technolo gy. 
 
  6.2 Aflatoxins  
 
Cardamon powder shall not have total aflatoxins exceeding 10 pp b and 5 ppb 
for Aflatoxin B
1 when tested according to KS ISO 16050. 
 
7 Environmental management   
 
Cardamon powder  shall be processed in an environment that conf orms to 
Environment Management Coordination Act 1999 No.8 on environmen tal 
management and conform to Cleaner Production. 
 
 
 8 Packaging and labelling 
 
8.1 Packaging  
8.1.1  Cardamon powder shall be packed in  food grade materials that e nsure 
product integrity and safety.   
8.1.2  Fill of the container shall comply  with the Weights and Measur es Act, Cap. 
513 Laws of Kenya.  8.1.3  Disposal of used container and condemned cardamom shall comply  with 
EMCA No 8 of 1999 of the Laws of Kenya on the disposal of liqui d and solid 
wastes.            KS 1093: 2018 
 
KEBS 2018 — All rights reserved    78.2 Labelling 
 
Labelling shall be done in accordance with KS 40, and shall inc lude the 
following:  
i) name of the product; 
 ii) name, physical location an d address of manufacturer/packer/ importer; 
 
iii) date of manufacturers; 
 iv) net contents, in gm/kg; 
 
iv) batch/lot or code number;  
vi) expiry date; 
 vii) storage instructions; 
 
ix) instructions for use;  viii) country of origin; 
 
x) instructions for disposal of packaging materials; xi) Expiry Date 
xii) declaration of GMO status.. 
xiii) Irradiation Status    
 
 9 Sampling 
 
 Sampling shall be done acc ording to KS ISO 948.