DEAS 97 :2019  
ICS 65.120   
 
© EAC 2019                                                                                                                               2nd Edition 2019   
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Fishmeal  — Specification   
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  
 DEAS 97 : 2019  
ii © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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participants in the EAC standards development process is permitted w ithout prior permission from EAC, 
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  DEAS 97 : 201 9 
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessit ated by the need for harmonizing requirements 
governing quality of products and services in the East African Community. It is envisaged that through 
harmonized standardization, 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 Standards  (EAS) . The 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 developed through  Technical Committees that are representative of key 
stakeholders including government, academia, cons umer groups, private sector and other interested parties. 
Draft East African Standards are circulated to stakeholders through the National Standards Bodies in the 
Partner States. The comments received are discussed and incorporated before finalization of s tandards, in 
accordance with the Principles and procedures for development of East African Standards.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected to ens ure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible  for this document is Technical Committee EASC /TC 001, Animal feeds and 
feeding stuffs . 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the e lements 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 cancels and replaces the first edition ( EAS 97:2000 ), which has been technically rev ised.  DEAS 97 : 2019  
iv © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 Introd uction  
Fishmeal is a rich source of high quality protein and contains besides calcium and phosphorus, unidentified 
growth factors  which are necessary for maximum growth rate and reproduction in livestock.  The incorporation 
of fishmeal in animal feeds, esp ecially poultry feeds and pig feeds has become a regular practice in the animal 
feed industry.  
The development of this standard will not only serve as an important and useful reference document for any 
envisaged large  scale fishmeal production but will go a long way to assist present manufacturers produce 
quality fishmeal . 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 97 :2019  
 
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  1 
 Fishmeal  — Specification  
1 Scope   
This Draft East African Standard specifies requirements, sampling and test methods  for fishmeal for use in 
compounding animal feeds . 
2 Normative refere nces   
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requirements of this document.  For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the ref erenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
IS0 5510, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of available lysine  
ISO 5983 -1, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of nitrogen content and calculation of crude protein 
content — Part 1: Kjeldahl metho d 
ISO 5984, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of crude ash  
ISO 5985, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid  
ISO 6490 -1, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of calcium content — Part 1: Titrimetric method  
ISO 6491,  Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of phosphorus content — Spectrometric method  
ISO 6492, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of fat content  
ISO 6495, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of water -soluble chlorides content  
ISO 6496, Animal feeding s tuffs — Determination of moisture and other volatile matter content  
ISO 6497, Animal feeding stuffs — Sampling  
ISO 6865, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of crude fibre content — Method with intermediate filtration  
ISO 9831, Animal feeding stuffs, ani mal products, and faeces or urine — Determination of gross calorific value 
— Bomb calorimeter method  
ISO 13903, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of amino acids content  
ISO 14718, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of aflatoxin B1 content of mixed f eeding stuffs — Method 
using high -performance liquid chromatography  
ISO 17375, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of aflatoxin B1  
ISO 16050, Foodstuffs — Determination of aflatoxin B1, and the total content of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 
in cereals, nu ts and derived products — High-performance liquid chromatographic method   
2 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packaged foods — General requirements  
ISO 27085,  Animal feeding stuff — Determination of calcium, sodium, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium, 
iron, zinc, coppe r, manganese, cobalt, molybdenum, arsenic, lead and cadmium by ICP -AES 
ISO 6579 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the detection, enumeration and 
serotyping of Salmonella — Part 1: Detection of Salmonella spp  
ISO 16654 , Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of 
Escherichia coli O157  
ISO 11133 , Microbiology of food, animal feed and water — Preparation, production, storage and performance 
testing of culture media  
3 Terms and definitions   
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.  
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp  
3.1  
fishm eal  
product obtained by drying and grinding, or otherwise treating fish or fish waste and to which no addition has 
been made  
3.2  
extraneous matter  
organic or inorganic materials other than bone meal such as sand, stones, chaff, dead insects and others  
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
Fishmeal shall be :  
a) free from extraneous matter ; 
b) free from foul smell ; and  
c) free from harmful constituents, metallic objects, adulterants, insect infestation and from visible fungal 
growth . 
4.2 Specific requirements   
Fishmeal shall conform to the requirements specified  in Table 1. when tested in accordance with the test 
methods specified therein.  
Table 1 — Requirements for fishmeal  
S/No. Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
i Moisture , per cent by mass , max. 10 ISO 6 496 
ii Crude protein , per cent by mass , min.a 55 ISO 5983 -1  
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  3 
 iii Crude fat, max.a 12 ISO 6492  
iv Acid insoluble ash , per cent by mass , max.a 3 ISO 5985  
v Total ash , per cent by mass , max.a 20 ISO 5984  
vi Calcium , per cent by mass , min.a 3 ISO 6490 -1 
vii Phosphorous , per cent by mass , min.a 1.5 ISO 27085  
viii Sodium chloride , per cent by mass , max.a 2 ISO 6495  
a The characteristic is on dry matter basis . 
5 Feed additives  
Fishmeal treated with antioxidants shall conform to the requirements in Table 2 . 
Table 2 — Antioxidant treated fishmeals  
Antioxidant  Per cent (max.) levels  Test method  
Butylated hydroxy -Toluene (B.H.T.)  200 ppm   
GMP  Butylated hydroxyanisole (B.H.A.)  200 ppm  
Ethoxyguin  150 ppm  
 
6 Contaminants  
6.1 Aflatoxin  
Aflatoxin contamina tion in fishmeal shall not be more than 20  ppb for B 1 and 50 ppb for total aflatoxin when 
tested in accordance with ISO 16050  and ISO 17375 . 
6.2 Pesticide  residues  
Fishmeal  shall comply with the maximum pesticide residue limits established by the Codex Ali mentarius 
Commission .  
6.3 Heavy metal  
Fishmeal  shall be free from heavy metals in amounts which may represent a hazard to animals and shall 
comply with the maximum limits of heavy metals as specified in Table 3 when tested in accordance with the 
test methods specified therein.  
Table 3  — Limits for heavy metals in fishmeal  
S/No Heavy metal  Maximum limit,  
mg/kg  Test method  
1 Arsenic  2.0  
ISO 27085  2 Lead  5.0 
3 Cadmium  1.0 
  
4 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 7 Hygiene  
7.1 Fishmeal shall be prepared in accordance with CAC/RCP 54 . 
7.2 Fishmeal shall conform to the microbiological limits specified in Table 3  when tested in accordance with 
the test method s specified there in. 
 
Table 4  — Microbiological limits  in fishmeal  
S/No Microorganism  Limit, max . Test method  
I E.coli  absent  ISO 16654  
Ii Salmonella  spp absent  ISO 6579 -1 
iii Pseudomonas aeruginosa  absent  ISO 11133  
 
8 Weights and measures  
Fish meal shall be weighed according to the weights and measures regulation of the destination country  
9 Packaging  
Fishmeal  shall be packaged in s uitable containers that are of sufficient strength, and sufficiently sealed to 
withstand reasonable handling without tearing, bursting or falling open. The containers shall be clean and not 
previously used . 
10 Labelling   
In addition to the requirements in US EAS 38, each package shall be legibly and indelibly labelled with the 
following:  
a) expiry date ; 
b) name of the feed   ―fishmeal ‖;  
c) name and physical address  of the manufacturer ; 
d) additives if included shall be declared;  
e) net weight in metric units;  
f) directions  and precautions for use;  
g) batch number /lot identification;  
h) manufacturing date ; and  
i) storage instru ctions .  
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  5 
 11 Sampling  
Sampling shall be done in accordance with ISO 6497 . 
  
6 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 Bibliography  
EAS 97:2000, fish meal  specification  
 EAS 97: 2019    
 
© EAC 2019 – All righ ts reserved