UGANDA STANDARD  
  US EAS 804 
First  Edition  
2014-10-15 
 
 Reference number  
US EAS 804: 2014 
© UNBS 201 4 
  
Claims  — General r equirements  
 US EAS 804: 2014 
ii                © UNBS  2014 - 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 
responsible for its correct appli cation  
© UNBS 20 14 
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any 
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without prior written 
permission from  UNBS.  
Requests for permission to reproduce this document should be addressed to  
The Executive Director  
Uganda National Bureau of Standards  
P.O. Box 6329  
Kampala  
Uganda  
Tel: 256 41 505 995  
Fax: 256 41 286 123  
E-mail: unbs@infocom.co.ug  
Web: www.unbs.go.ug  
 US EAS 804: 2014 
© UNBS  2014 - All rights reserved                 iii National foreword  
Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) is a parastatal under the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and 
Industry established under Cap 327, of the Laws of Uganda. UNBS is mandated to co -ordinate the  elaboration 
of standards and is  
(a) a member of International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and  
(b) a contact point for the WHO/FAO Codex Alimentarius Commission on Food Standards, and  
(c) the National Enquiry Point on TBT/SPS Agreements of the World Trad e 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 representatives of 
consumers, traders, academ icians, 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 comments before recommending the draft standards 
for approval and declaration as Uganda Standards by the National Standards Council.  
This Uganda Standard, US EAS 804: 2014, Claims  — General r equirements , is identical with  and has been 
reproduced from an East African  Standard , EAS 804: 2014, Claims  — General r equirements , and adopted  as 
a Uganda Standard.  
This standard cancels and replaces US 566:2006 , Use of nutrition claims – Requirements , which has been 
technically revise d 
Wherever the words, “ East African  Standard" appear, they should be replaced by "Uganda Standard."  
 
   EAS 804: 2014 
ICS 67.230  
© EA C 2014                                                                                                                              First Edition 2014  
 
EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Claims  — General requirements  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  EAS 804: 2014 
ii © EAC  2014 – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
This EAC document is copyright -protected by EAC. While the reproduction of this document by 
participants in the EAC standards development process is permitted with out prior permission from EAC, 
neither this document nor any extract from it may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form for 
any other purpose without prior written permission from EAC.  
Requests for permission to reproduce this document for the pu rpose of selling it should be addressed 
as shown below or to EAC’s member body in the country of the requester:  
© East African Community  2014 — All rights reserved  
East African Community   
P.O.Box 1096  
Arusha  
Tanzania  
Tel: 255 27 2504253/8  
Fax: 255 27 25044 81/2504255  
E-mail: eac@eachq.org  
       Web: www.eac -quality.net  
Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.  
Violators may be persecuted  
 EAS 804: 2014  
© EAC 2014 – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessita ted 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.  
In order to achieve this objective, the Community established an East African Standards Committee mandated 
to develop and issue East African Standards.   
The Committee is composed of representatives of the National Standards  Bodies in Partner States, together 
with the representatives from the private sectors and consumer organizations. 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 standards, in accordance with the procedures 
of the Community.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
EAS 804: 201 4 was prepared by Technical Committee EASC/TC 009, Food packaging and labelling . 
 EAS 804: 2014 
iv © EAC  2014 – All rights reserved  
 Introduction  
The purpose of this East African S tandard is to provide  general requirements that apply t o claims made on  
foods. The general requirements are associated with the labeling and advertisement of food with particular 
reference to claims.  
This East African Standard is a tool to assist industry in complian ce with standards and legislation and 
consumer protection. These general requirements should be complied with, whether or not an individual East 
African standard covers a food.  
 EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  EAS 804: 2014 
 
© EAC 2014 – All rights reserved  1 
 Claims  — General requirements  
1 Scope  
This East African Standard specifies g eneral requirements for claims made on a food irrespective of whether 
or not the food is covered by an individual East African Standard.  
2 Normative references  
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For d ated 
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced 
document (including any amendments) applies.  
CAC/GL 9, General principles for the addition of essential nutrients to foods  
CAC/GL 24, General guid ance for the use of the term Halal  
EAS 805, Use of nutritional health claims  — Requirements  
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of this standard, the following terms and definitions shall  apply . 
3.1  
claim  
any representation which states, suggests or implies that a food has particular characteristics relating to its 
origin, nutritional properties, nature, production, processing, composition or any other quality attributes  
3.2  
food  
any substance, whether processed, semi -processed or raw, which is inten ded for human consumption, and 
includes drinks, chewing gum and any substance which has been used in the manufacture, preparation or 
treatment of “food” but does not include cosmetics or tobacco or substances used only as drugs  
4 General principles  
4.1 No food is described or presented in a manner that is false, misleading or deceptive or is likely to create 
an erroneous impression regarding its character in any respect.  
4.2 The person producing, processing and/or marketing the food is able to justify the claims made.  
5 Prohibited claims  
5.1 Claims stating that any given food will provide an adequate source of all essential nutrie nts, except in 
the case of well -defined products for which an East African Standard regulates such claims as admissible EAS 804: 2014 
2 © EAC  2014 – All rights reserved  
 claims or  where competent authorities have accepted the product to be an adequate source of all essential 
nutrients.  
5.2 Claims implying that a balanced diet or ordinary foods cannot supply adequate amounts of all nutrients.  
5.3 Claims which cannot be substantiated . 
5.4 Claims as to the suitability of a food for use in the prevention, alleviation, treatment or cure of a disease, 
disorder, or particular physiological condition unless they are:  
a) in accordance with the provisions of East African  Standards ; or 
b) permitted under the laws of the country in which the food is distributed.  
5.5 Claims which give rise to doubt about the safety of similar food or which arouse or exploit fear in the 
consumer.  
6 Potentially misleading claims  
6.1 Meaningless claims including incomple te comparatives and superlatives.  
6.2 Claims as to good hygienic practice, such as “wholesome”, “healthful”, “sound”.  
7 Condit ional claims  
7.1 An indication that a food has obtained an increased or special nutritive value by means of the addition 
of nutrie nts, such as vitamins, minerals and amino acids may be given only if such an addition has been made 
on the basis of nutritional considerations according to the CAC/GL 9 and such addition conforms with relevant 
East African Standards.  
7.2 An indication that  the food has special nutritional qualities by the reduction or omission of a nutrient 
shall be on the basis of nutritional considerations and subject to legislation by the appropriate authorities.  
7.3 Terms such as "natural", "pure", "fresh", "home made",  "organically grown" and "biologically grown" 
when they are used, shall be in accordance with the national legislation and shall be consistent with the 
prohibitions set out in Clause 5. 
7.4 Religious or ritual preparation ( for example,  Halal, Kosher) of a food may be claimed provided that the 
food conforms to the requirements of the appropriate religious or ritual authorities  and in with accordance to 
CAC/GL 24.  
7.5 Claims that a food has special characteristics when all such foods have the same characteris tics, if this 
fact is apparent in the claim.  
7.6 Claims which highlight the absence or non -addition of particular substances to food may be used 
provided that they are not misleading and provided that the substance:  
a) is not subject to specific requirements in any East African or National Standard or Guideline or 
law; 
b) is one which consumers would normally expect to find in the food;  
c) has not been substituted by another giving the food equivalent characteristics unless the nature 
of the substitution is clearly stated with equal prominence; and  
d) is one whose presence or addition is permitted in the food.  EAS 804: 2014  
© EAC 2014 – All rights reserved  3 
 7.7 Claims which highlight the absence or non -addition of one or more nutrients are regarded as nutrition 
claims and therefore shall invoke requirements for nutrient declaration in accordance with EAS 805.  EAS 804: 2014 
4 © EAC  2014 – All rights reserved  
 Bibliography  
CAC/GL 1 - 1979  (Amended 2009) , General guidelines on claims  
 
 EAS 804: 2014    
 
© EAC 2014 – All rights reserved