DEAS 769: 2017  
ICS 67.200.10  
 
© EAC 2017                                                                                                                         Second  Edition 2017  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Fortified edible fats and oils  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 769: 2017  
ii © EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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© East African Community  2017  — All rights reserved  
East African Community  
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.  
Violators may be prosecuted . DEAS 769: 2017  
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Contents  Page 
Foreword  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  iv 
Introduction  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........................  v 
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ......................  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  2 
4 Requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .........  3 
4.1 General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  3 
4.2 Specific requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  3 
5 Fortification requir ements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ....................  4 
5.1 Levels of vitamin A  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................  4 
5.2 Fortificants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .............  5 
6 Food add itives  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ....... 5 
8 Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ...................  6 
9 Weights and measures  ................................ ................................ ................................ .........................  6 
10 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .................  6 
10.1  General labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .... 6 
10.2  Labelling exemptions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ............................  6 
10.3  Labelling  prohibition  ................................ ................................ ................................ .............................  7 
10.4  Nutrition labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 7 
10.5  Nutrition and health claims  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................  7 
11 Sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................  7 
Annex  A (informative)  Fortificant at factory level  ................................ ................................ ..........................  8 
Bibliography  ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................  9 
 DEAS 769: 2017  
iv © EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessitated 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 barr iers 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 com posed 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 re presentative of key 
stakeholders including government, academia, consumer 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 comm ents received are discussed and incorporated before finalization of standards, in 
accordance with the Principles and procedures for develo pment of East African Standards . 
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advance s. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible  for this document is Technical Committee EASC /TC 018, Nutrition and Foods f or 
Special Dietary Uses . 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements 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 repl aces the first 2012 edition (EAS  769: 2012), which has been technically 
revised.  DEAS 769: 2017  
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  v 
 Introduction  
The Health Ministers of the East, C entral and Southern Africa (ECSA -HC) Health Community passed a 
resolution in 2002 directing the Secretariat to work with the co untries to fortify commonly consumed foods in 
the region after recognizing the high levels of malnutrition in the region. ECSA -HC is an intergovernmental 
organization that fosters cooperation in health among countries in the East, Central and Southern Afri can 
Region. It has 10 active member states namely Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, 
Lesotho, Swaziland, Mauritius and Seychelles. The mandate of the organization is to promote relevance and 
efficiency in health in the region.  
Following ini tial promotion efforts, the countries identified staple foods suitable for fortification as oil, sugar, 
maize meal/ flour and wheat flour. These foods can be used as vehicles to deliver essential micronutrients to 
the populations. Based on scientific evide nce and working with countries using country data, the Secretariat 
developed implementation focused guidelines on fortification of these foods to help countries start up 
programs and scale up the existing programs. These guidelines included fortification l evels for addition of 
micronutrients at the factory, and levels for monitoring at commercial level.  
Based on the guidelines and other available information, most of the countries in the East African Region and 
in the larger Africa have initiated national p rograms on oil fortification with vitamin A; and wheat flour, maize 
meal/ maize flour fortification with iron, zinc, folic acid, niacin, vitamin B -1, B-2 and B -12 and vitamin A. Sugar 
fortification with vitamin A has also been considered as a way of supple menting other sources of the vitamin in 
order to prevent and reduce problems associated with the deficiency of this vitamin. Fats and oils are 
considered to be some of the most cost effective, technically feasible and widely used vehicle for vitamins A, 
D and E because the three vitamins are fat soluble and fats and oils, to a greater extent, are centrally 
processed. Vegetable fats and oils are also consumed by nearly by everyone. Salt fortification with iodine 
continues to be implemented in all the countri es. 
With the increased trade of food commodities including these fortified foods within the region, it has become 
imperative to develop regional standards that over and above the other standards, stipulate minimum and 
maximum levels of the added nutrients,  provide clauses on how to pack the fortified product and the use of 
health and nutrition claims. The guidelines developed through ECSA have now been incorporated into food 
standards to provide for specific fortified products.  
It is envisaged that, the ado ption of these standards and their utilization within the region will help countries 
adopt food fortification as a strategy to prevent, alleviate or eliminate micronutrient deficiency in the region. 
Standards will not only promote the health of the populat ion but will also ensure safety of food products and 
enhance fair trade.  
This standard was developed with support from the East, Central and Southern African Health community 
(ECSA -HC) Secretariat. This was possible through a grant by the A2Z Project of th e United States Agency for 
International Development (USAID). The financial and technical support was used in the process of 
formulation of fortification levels, development of the draft standards and mobilization of stakeholders to 
review the standard in national and regional fora. This support is hereby acknowledged.  DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 769: 2017  
 
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  1 
 Fortified edible fats and oils  — Specification  
1 Scope  
This Draft East Africa n Standard specifies the requirements, sampling and tests methods for fortified edible 
fats and oils intended for  human consumption . 
This Draft East Africa n Standard is not applicable to fat spreads and blended spreads.  
2 Normative references  
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requirements o f this document.  For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
AOAC 952.13, Arsenic in food. Silver diethyldithiocarbamate  
AOAC 2001.13 , Deter mination of Vitamin A  (Retinol)in Food  
CODEX STAN 192, General standard for food additives  
CODEXSTAN 193, General standard for contaminants and toxins in food and feed  
EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packaged foods — Specification  
EAS 39, Code of practice for hyg iene the food and drink manufacturing industry  
EAS 803 , Nutrition labelling — Requirements  
EAS 804, Claims on food — General requirements  
EAS 805, Use of nutrition and health claims — Requirements  
ISO 660, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination  of acid value and acidity  
ISO 661, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Preparation of test sample  
ISO 662, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of moisture and volatile matter content  
ISO 663, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determinat ion of insoluble impurities content  
ISO 3960, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of peroxide value — Iodometric (visual) 
endpoint determination  
ISO 5555, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Sampling  
ISO 8294, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of copper, iron and nickel contents —  
ISO 10539, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of alkalinity   
2 © EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  
 ISO 12193 , Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of lead by direct graphite  furnace atomic 
absorption spect roscopy  
ISO 15304, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of the content of trans fatty acid isomers of 
vegetable fats and oils -Gas chromatographic method  
ISO 17189 , Butter, edible oil emulsions and spreadable fats — Determination of fat conte nt (Reference 
method)  
ISO 20633 , Infant formula and adult nutritionals -- Determination of vitamin E and vitamin A by normal phase 
high performance liquid chromatography  
ISO 27107, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of peroxide value — Potentiometric end -point 
determination  
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.  
3.1 
edible fats and oils  
foodstuffs which are composed of glycerides of fatty acids of vegetable, animal or marine orig in. They may 
contain small amounts of other lipids such as phosphatides, unsaponifiable constituents and free fatty acids 
naturally present in the fat or oil  
3.2 
virgin fats and oils  
edible oil obtained without altering the nature of oil by mechanical proc edures for example expelling or 
press ing, and the application of heat only. It may have been purified by washing with water, settling, filtering 
and centrifuging only  
3.3 
non–virgin (refined) fats and oils  
fats and oils obtained by mechanical procedures an d/or solvent extraction and subjected to refining processes 
to adopt it specially for use in food products  
3.4 
cold pressed fats and oils  
edible vegetable fats and oils obtained, without altering the oil, by mechanical procedures, e.g. expelling or 
pressin g, without the application of heat. They may have been purified by washing with water, settling, filtering 
and centrifuging only  
3.5 
edible vegetable fat  
foodstuffs which are composed primarily of glycerides of fatty acids being obtained only from vegetabl e 
sources. They may contain small amounts of other lipids such as phosphatides, unsaponifiable constituents 
and of free fatty acids naturally present in the oil.  
3.6 
blended fats and oils  
mixture of two or more fats and/or oils of plant and/or animal origi n 
3.7 
refined fats and oils  
edible fats and oils obtained by mechanical procedures and/or solvent extraction and subjected to refining 
processes to adopt it specially for use in food products   
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  3 
 3.8 
fortified edible fats and oils  
edible fats and oils containi ng added micronutrients in accordance with this standard  
3.9 
fortificant  
compound which contains the specified micronutrient intended to be added to a food vehicle  
3.10 
food fortification  
practice of deliberately adding essential micronutrients in a food t o improve the nutritional quality of the food 
and to provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health  
3.11 
food grade material  
material, made of substances that are safe and suitable for their intended use and which will not impart any 
toxic sub stance or undesirable o dour or flavour to the product.  
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
Fortified e dible fats and oils shall  be: 
a) free from foreign and/or rancid odour and/or taste ; and  
b) characteristic colour of designated product.  
4.2 Specific requir ements  
Fortified edible fats and oils shall comply with requirements given  in Table 1 when tested in accordance with 
the methods specified therein.  
Table 1 — Specific requirements for fortified edible fats and oils  
S/N Characteristic  Requirement  Test metho d 
i.  Fat content, % by mass, min.  99.5 ISO 17189  
ii.  Moisture and matter volatile at 105 ˚C, % 
m/m, max  0.2 ISO 662  
iii.  Acid value, mg KOH/g , 
max.  Non virgin  0.6 
ISO 660  Virgin  4 
Cold pressed  4 
iv.  Peroxide value, m Eq. 
Peroxide oxygen/kg, 
max.  Non virgin  10 
ISO 3960  Virgin  15 
Cold pressed  15 
  
4 © EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  
 5 Fortification  requirements  
5.1 Levels of vitamin A  
The fortified edible oil or fat shall conform to the requirements and the levels of vitamin A provided in Table 2.   
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  5 
 Table 2 — Requirements for Vitamin A in  fortified edible oil or fat  
Nutrient  Fortificant 
compound  Limit  
mg/kg  Test method  
Min. Max.  
Vitamin A  Vitamin A (Retinyl) 
palmitate  20 40 ISO 20633  
AOAC 2001.13  
 
5.2 Fortificants  
Vitamin A shall be added in the form of stabilized vitamin A compound such as vitamin A palmitate 1.7 m IU/g 
or 1.0 m IU/g.  
Note  One International Units (IU) of Vitamin A= 0.33 micrograms Retinol Equivalent  
6 Food additives  
Fortified e dible fats and oils may contain food additives in accordance with CODEX STAN 192.  
7 Contami nants  
7.1 Pesticide residues  
The maximum levels of pesticide residues in fortified edible fats and oil shall comply with the levels 
recommended by Codex Alimentarius Commission  
7.2 Other contaminants  
Fortified e dible fats and oils shall comply with those m aximum limits specified in Table 3 when tested in 
accordance with the methods specified therein . 
Table 3 — Limits for contaminants in  fortified edible fat and oils  
S/N Contaminant  Maximum level  Test method  
i.  Insoluble impurities, % m/m  0.05 ISO 663  
ii.  Soap content, % m/m  0.005  ISO 10539  
iii.  Iron, mg/kg  Virgin  5 
ISO 8294  Non virgin  2.5 
Cold pressed  5 
iv.  Copper, mg/kg  Virgin  0.4 
Non virgin  0.1 
Cold pressed  0.4 
v.  Lead, mg/kg  0.1 ISO 12193  
vi.  Arsenic, mg/kg  0.1 AOAC 952.13  
  
6 © EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  
 8 Hygiene  
Fortified e dible fats and oils shall be produced, processed, handled and stored in accordance with EAS 39 . 
9 Weights and measures  
Fortified edible fats and oils  shall be package d in accordance with the weights and measures regulations of 
the destination country.  
NOTE  EAC Partner States are signatory to the International Labour Organizations (ILO) for maximum package 
weight of 50 kg where human loading and offloading is involved.  
10 Labelling  
10.1 General labelling  
In addition to the requirements of EAS 38, the following specific provisions apply:  
a) the name of the product shall be fortified edible ‘X’ fat or ‘X’ oil or blended ‘X’ fat or blended ‘X’ oil 
where “X” is the word vegetable or animal or name of such vegetable or animal;  
b) the words “cold pressed”, “virgin”, “non -virgin” or “refined” shall be declared on the label to indicate the 
type of oil or fat;  
c) where vegetable fat has been subject to any process of esterification or to processing which alters its 
fatty acid composition or its consistency, the name of the product  or any synonym shall not be used 
unless qualified to indicate the nature of the product;  
d) date marking shall be declared in the following manner “best before"  
e) instructions on disposal of used package shall be declared;  
f) each product unit may also be marked  with the national food fortification Logo, where the industry 
qualifies to use the mark;  and 
g) storage instructions, keep away from direct sunlight.  
10.2 Labelling exemptions  
The following exceptions shall apply:  
a) the product shall be designated in accordanc e with the laws of the community and in manner so as to 
not mislead the consumer about the nature of the product; and  
b) the labelling of non -retail containers is restricted to outer containers for a number of pre -packaged 
foods only and shall appear in the f ollowing manner:  
1) the name of the product;  
2) lot identification; and  
3) the name and physical address of the manufacturer or packer shall appear on the container.   
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  7 
 10.3 Labelling prohibition  
Fortified edible fats and oils consisting of fats and/or oils of animal origin or marine origin shall not be labelled 
as vegetable fats or oils.  
10.4 Nutrition labelling  
The amount of vitamin A in the fortified fat or oil shall be declared on the label in accordance with EAS 803 . 
10.5 Nutrition and health claims  
Fortified edible fats and oils may have claims on the importance of the vitamin A in nutrition and health. Such 
claims when declared shall be consistent with EAS 804 and EAS 805.  
11 Sampling  
Sampling and sample prepar ation  for testing shall be carried out in accordance with ISO 5555 and ISO 661  
respectively.  
  
8 © EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  
 Annex  A 
(informative)  
 
Fortificant at factory level  
A.1 For Vitamin A, the r ecommended factory level, should be 35 ± 5 mg/kg  
A.2 Fortificant for use shall be stable compounds conforming to specifications in any of t he following 
documents:  
a) British Pharmacopoeia (BP);  
b) Food Chemical Codex (FCC);  
c) Merck Index (MI);  
d) United States National Formulary (NF);  
e) European Pharmacopoeia (Ph Eur);  
f) United States Pharmacopoeia (USP); and  
g) Codex Alimentarius Commission  (CAC).  
  
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  9 
 Bibliograp hy 
[1] CODEX STAN 19, Codex Standard for Edible Fats and Oils Not Covered By Individual Standards  
[2] ECSA -HC, Guidelines of fortification levels for staples  
 DEAS 769: 2017    
 
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved