KENYA STANDARD        DKS 175: 2011  
ICS 67.140.20  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Instant coffee — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© KEBS 201 6          Second  Edition 201 6 
 DKS 175: 2016 
 
ii  © KEBS 201 6 — All rights reserved  TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPRESENTATION  
 
The following organizations were represented on the Technical Committee:  
 
Coffee Board of Kenya  
Kenya Industrial Res earch and Development Institute (KIRDI)  
Coffee Research Foundation  
Kenya Coffee Traders Association  
Consumer Information Network  
Government Chemist’s  Department  
Institute of Packaging of Kenya  
Kenya Institute of Food Science and Technology  
C. Dorman Lt d. 
Kofinaf Company Ltd.  
Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS)  
NKG Coffee Mills  
Sasini Ltd.  
Nestle Kenya Ltd.  
Kenya Coffee Producers Association  
GrainPro Kenya Ltd. Inc.  
4C Association  
Kenya Bureau of Standards — Secretariat  
 
 
 
REVISION OF KENYA  STANDARDS  
 
In order to keep abreast of progress in industry, Kenya Standards shall be regularly reviewed. Suggestions for 
improvements to published standards, addressed to Managing Director, Kenya Bureau of Standards, are 
welcome.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© Kenya Bureau of  Standards, 2011  
 
Copyright. Users are reminded that by virtue of Section 25 of the Copyright Act, Cap. 12 of 2001  of the Laws of Kenya, copyr ight subsists in 
all Kenya Standards and except as provided under Section 26 of this Act, no Kenya Standard produ ced by Kenya Bureau of Standards may 
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or transmitted by any means without prior permission in writing from the Managing 
Director .  
 KENYA STANDARD                DKS 175: 201 6 
  ICS 67.140.20  
© KEBS 2011  — All rights reserved    iii  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Instant coffee — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
KENY A BUREAU OF STANDARDS (KEBS)  
Head Office:  P.O. Box 54974, Nairobi -00200, Tel.: (+254 020) 605490, 602350, Fax: (+254 020) 604031  
E-mail: info@kebs.org,  Web:http://www.kebs.org   
 
Coast Region     Lake Region          Rift Valley Region  
P.O. Box 99376, Momba sa-80100   P.O. Box 2949, Kisumu -40100        P.O. Box 2138, Nakuru -20100  
Tel.: (+254 041) 229563, 230939/40   Tel.: (+254 057) 23549, 22396        Tel.: (+254 051) 210553, 210555  
Fax: (+254 041) 229448   Fax: (+254 057) 21814  DKS 175: 2016 
 
iv  © KEBS 201 6 — All rights reserved  Foreword  
 
This Kenya Standard has  been developed  by the Coffee Technical Committee under the guidance of the 
Standards Project Committee and it is in accordance with the procedures of Kenya Bureau of Standards  
The standard will streamline and create better understanding of most commonly u sed coffee terms in coffee 
trade.   
During the revision of this standard reference was made to the following document:  
ISO Standard 3509 — Vocabulary of coffee and its products.  
Acknowledgement is hereby made for t he assistance derived from this source . 
 
 
 
 
 
  
KENYA STANDARD                 DKS 175: 2016 
 
 
© KEBS 201 6 — All rights reserved    1  
 
 
Instant  coffee — Specification  
 
 
 
1 Scope  
 
This Kenya Standard specifies the requirements and the methods of test and sampling for instant/soluble coffee.  
 
2 Normative references  
 
The following documents are necessary in the application of this st andard.  
 
Codex Standard 192: Codex standard for food additives  
Codex Standard 193:  General Standard for the Contaminants and Toxins  
KS ISO 4052 : Coffee  — Determination of caffeine content (Reference method)  
KS ISO 15141 Part 1 and 2 , Foodstuffs — Determina tion of ochratoxin A in cereals and cereal products  
KS EAS 38;  Labelling of pre -packaged foods  
KS 173 : Glossary  of terms used in coffee trade  
KS 174 : Methods of sampling and analysis of green coffee  
KS 660: Guide to the safe use of food additives  
KS EAS 39 : Code of practice for hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry  
KS 1039: Methods for liquoring coffee for analysis  
AOAC 942.17, Arsenic in foods Molybdenum blue method  
AOAC 999.10, Lead, Cadmium, Copper, Iron, and Zinc in foods, Atomic Absorpti on Spectrophotometry after dry 
ashing  
KS EAS 39, Code of practice for food hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry  
KS ISO 18593; Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs – Horizontal methods for sampling techniques 
from surfaces using co ntact plates and swabs   
KS ISO 4831:2006; Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs - Horizontal method for the detection and 
enumeration of coliforms - Most probable number technique)  
KS ISO 4832; 2006; Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs - Horiz ontal method for the enumeration of 
coliforms - Colony -count technique.  
KS ISO 4833 -1; Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs - Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
microorganisms - Colony -count technique at 30 degrees C   
KS ISO 21527; Microb iology 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   
KS ISO 6579; Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs - Horizontal method for the detection of Salmonella 
spp   
KS EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packaged foods  
KS CODEX STAN 193, Codex general standard for contaminants and toxins in foods  
KS ISO 8968 -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  DKS 175: 201 6 
 
2  © KEBS 201 6 — All rights reserved  KS EAS 12, Drinking (Potable) water - Specification  
US 500, General requirements for nutrition la belling  
US 508, General requirements for nutrition and health claims  
US 566, Use of nutrition terms - Requirements  
KS EAS 105, Roasted coffee beans and roasted ground coffee – Specification  
KS EAS 106, Coffee and its products – Glossary and terms  
KS ISO 20481:2008, Coffee and its products – Determination of caffeine content using High Performance  Liquid 
Chromatography (HPLC) – Reference method  
KS ISO 20938:2008, Instant coffee – Determination of moisture content – Karl Fisher method (Reference 
method ) 
 
 
3 Definitions  
 
For the purposes of this standard, the  following  definitions  and those  given in KS 173 shall apply.  
 
3.1 Coffee   
 
General term for the fruits and seeds of plants of the genus Coffea, generally the cultivated species, as well as  
products  from these fruits and seeds in different stages of processing and use which are intended for  
consumption  
 
NOTE This term applies to products such as cherry, cherry buni, parchment coffee, g reen coffee, monsooned 
coffee,  polished coffee, decaffeinated c offee, roasted coffee as beans or ground coffee, coffee extr act, instant 
coffee and coffee brew.  
 
3.2 agglomerated  instant coffee  
 
Instant  coffee which has been obtained by a process in which the dried particles of instant coffee are fused  
together to f orm large particles  
 
 
3.3 decaffeinated  coffee  
 
Coffee from which caffeine has been extracted  
 
 
 
4 Product description  
 
4.1 
Instant  coffee (herein referred to as coffee)  
is a soluble product derived from  aqueous extracts of  roasted and ground coffee bea ns. The product shall be in 
the form of a free flowing powder or in the agglomerated form ( granules) having the colour, taste and flavour 
characteristic of coffee when exposed to cup test as in KS 1039  
 
 
5 Requirements  
 
5.1 General requirements  
 
The coff ee shall meet the following requirements : DKS 175: 201 6 
 
© KEBS 201 6 — All rights reserved    3  
5.1.1   Shall be practicably free from extraneous and foreign matter . 
 
5.1.2  Shall be free from foreign odour . 
 
5.1.3  Shall be free from fungal infestation .  
 
5.1.4   Shall be free from adulterants . 
 
5.1.5  Shall b e free from contaminants . 
 
5.1.6  shall not contain chicory.  
 
5.1.7  Shall have the characteristic coffee flavour  
 
5.1.8  Coffee in the agglomerated form shall as far as possible have granules of uniform size.  
 
   
 
5.2 Compositional requirements/limits  
 
The coffee shall comp ly with the compositional requirements/limits stipulated in Table 1.  
 
 
Table 1— Compositional requirements /Limits  
 
Sl  no Parameter  Requirement  Test method  
i) Moisture, % by mass, max.  4a)  KS ISO 
20938  
ii) Total ash (on dry matter basis), % by 
mass, max  15 KS ISO 3726  
iii) Acid insoluble ash, % mass, max.  1.0  KS 1039  
iv) Caffeine content (on dry basis) , % by 
mass, max. 2.8- 5b) KS ISO 4052  
v) Solubility in boiling water  Dissolves readily in 30 s with moderate 
stirring  KS 1039  
vi) Solubility in cold water at 16 oC ± 2 oC Soluble with moderate stirring in 3 min . KS 1039  
 
a) For granulated coffee the maximum moisture content will be 5 % by mass.  
 
b) For decaffeinated coffee the limit for this parameter  shall not apply  
 
5.          Hygiene  
 
5.1 It is recommend ed that the products covered by the provisions of this standard be prepared and handled 
in accordance with the appropriate sections of KS EAS 39, and other relevant Kenya standards and DKS 175: 201 6 
 
4  © KEBS 201 6 — All rights reserved  regulations. The products should comply with any microbiological criter ia established in accordance with 
CAC/GL 21  
 
5.2   The products shall comply with any microbiological criteria established in accordance with Table 2 below  
 
 
Table 2 — Microbiological limits  
 
Sl no. Characteristic  Limit  Test method  
i)  Total Plate Count/g  1000  KS ISO 4833 -1 
ii)  Coliforms/10 g  Absent  KS ISO 4831/ 
4832  
iii) Salmonella / 30 g Absent KS ISO 6579  
 
iii) S. aureus / 30 g Absent KS ISO 8968 -1 
 
iv) Yeast  <100  KS ISO 21527  
 
v) moulds/g  100 KS ISO 21527  
 
 
 
8 Contaminants  
 
The product covered b y this standard shall comply with the maximum levels of CODEX STAN 193 and the 
maximum residue limits for pesticides established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC).  
 
8.1       Heavy metals  
 
Heavy metal contam inants, if present, shall c omply with th e limits specifi ed in T able 3. 
 
 
Table 3 — Heavy metal contaminant limits  
 
Sl no Contaminants  Max l imits (mg/kg)  Test method  
i) Lead  1.0 AOAC 942.17  
 DKS 175: 201 6 
 
© KEBS 201 6 — All rights reserved    5 ii) Tin 200 AOAC 942.17  
 
iii) Arsenic  0.5 AOAC 999.10  
 
iv) Cadmium  1.0 AOAC 942.17  
 
 
 
 
 
8.2       Mycotoxin residues  
 
Total aflatoxin levels in Coffee shall not exceed the limits in table 4 below,  when tested according to KS ISO 
15141: Parts 1 and 2   
 
Table 4 — Mycotoxin  residue  limits  
 
Sl no. Parameter  Max.  limit(ppb)  Test method  
i) Ochratoxin  A  10  KS ISO 15141 : Parts 1 and 
2  
 
5.6 Food additives  
 
Coffee may contain permitted food additives limited to processing aids and preservatives complying with Codex 
Stan 192 and Act, Cap. 254 of the Laws of Kenya . 
 
7 Packaging  
 
7.1 The Coffee shall be packed  in suitable, clean and dry containers, made of material, which does not 
change the coffee  quality (preserves coffee  quality)  
 
7.2      The fill of the package shall comply with the Weights and Measures Act, Cap. 513 of the Laws of 
Kenya.  
 
7.3 The disposal of used package and condemned coffee  shall be carried out in compliance with the 
Environmental Management and Coordination Act (EMCA), Waste Regulations, 2006 of the Laws of Kenya 
on disposal of solid and liquid wastes.  
 
8 Labelling  
 
8.1      In addition t o the provisions of the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods; KS EAS 
38, the following specific provisions apply  
 
i) name of the product as “Instant/ Soluble c offee”  DKS 175: 201 6 
 
6  © KEBS 201 6 — All rights reserved   
ii) brand/trade name;  
 
iii) Name , location, contact details and physica l address of th e manufacturer/packer/importer/ vendor;  
 
iv) Country  of origin as : 
 
a) packed by ; 
 
b) imported from ; 
 
c) manufactured by ; 
 
d) produced in . 
 
vi) Date  of manufacture;  
 
vii) Expiry  date;  
 
viii) Storage instructions as ‘’Store in a Cool Dry Place , Away from Contaminants and direct sunlight’’;  
 
ix) Net weight in metric units ; 
 
x)  lot/batch/code number;  
 
xii) Instruction  for disposal of used package ; 
 
xiii)  Declaration , if genetically modified.  
 
8 Sampling  
 
The sampling of Instant Coffee shall be in acc ordance with  KS 174 and/or International Coffee Organization 
(ICO) requirements.