DEAS 920: 2017  
ICS 67.220.10  
 
© EAC 2017                                                                                                                               First Edition 2017  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Tea masala  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 920: 2017  
ii © EAC  2017  – 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 w ithout prior permission from EAC, 
neither this document nor any extract from it may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form for 
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© East African Community  2017  — All rights reserved  
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.  
Violators may be prosecuted . DEAS 920: 2017  
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessitat ed 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 St ates, 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, consum er 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 sta ndards, in 
accordance with the Principles and procedures for development of East African Standards. XXXXXX.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected t o ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible for this docu ment is Technical Committee EASC /TC 006, Spices culinary herbs 
and condiments . 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that som e 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.  
 DRAF T EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 920: 2017  
 
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  1 
 Tea masala  — Specification  
1 Scope   
This Draft East African Standard specifies  the requirements and metho ds of sampling and test for tea  masala  
which is used as a flavouring material in the preparation of tea . 
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 of this document.  For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
CODEX STAN 193 , General standard for contaminants and toxins in food and feed  
EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packaged foods — Specification  
EAS 39 , Hygiene in the food and drink industry — Code of practice  
EAS 99 , Spices and condiments — Terminology  
ISO 927 , Spices and condiments — Determination of extraneous matter and foreign matter conte nt 
ISO 928 , Spices and condiments — Determination of total ash  
ISO 930 , Spices and condiments — Determination of acid insoluble ash  
ISO 939 , Spices and condiments — Determination of moisture content Entrainment method  
ISO 948 , Spices and condiments — Samp ling  
ISO 1108 , Spices and c ondiments — Determination of non -volatile ether extract  
ISO 4833 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the enumeration of micro -organisms — 
Part 1: Colony -count at 30 degrees C — Pour plate technique  
ISO 795 4, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — General guidance for enumeration of yeasts and 
moulds — Part 8: Colony count technique at 25 degrees C  
ISO 16050 , Foodstuffs — Determination of aflatoxin B1, and the total content of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1  and G2 
in cereals, nuts and derived products  
ISO 7251 , Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection and 
enumeration of presumptive Escherichia coli - Most probable number technique  
ISO 6579 , Microbiology of food and  animal feeding stuffs — Part 6: Horizontal method for the detection of 
Salmonella spp.  
ISO 6571 , Spices and condiments — Determination of volatile oil content (hydrodistillation method)  DEAS 920: 2017  
2 © EAC  2017  – All rights reserved  
 3 Terms  and definitions  
For the purposes of this document, the terms  and definitions given in  EAS 99 and the following apply.  
3.1 
masala  
is a mixture of spices prepared by grinding clean, dried and sound spices and condiments.  
3.2 
tea masala  
Is a mixture of spices used to season tea  
3.3 
extraneous matter  
includes dust, dir t, stones, clay particles and pieces of wood, all particles originating from the plant other than 
ingredients used in making tea masala  
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
4.1.1  Tea masala shall be prepared by grinding clean, dried and sound spices a nd condiments. The major 
ingredients shall include cinnamon, cardamom , black pepper  and ginger . Tea masala shall be prepared by 
100 % spices and condiments as listed in EAS 99.   
4.1.2  The taste and odour of the tea masala shall be fresh, pleasant and chara cteristic of the designated 
product.  
4.1.3  Tea masala shall be free from extraneous matter visible to the naked eye.  
4.1.4  Tea masala shall be free from living insects, and practically free from moulds, dead insects, insect 
fragments and rodent contaminat ion.  
4.2 Specific quality requirements  
4.2.1  Tea masala shall comply with the specific quality requirements specified in Table 1.  
Table 1 — Quality requirements for tea masala  
S/No.  Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
i)  Moisture % m/m, max . 10.00  ISO 9 39 
ii)  Volatile oil ml/100 g %m/m, min . 1.5 ISO 6571  
iii)  Total ash % m/m, max . 8 ISO 928 
iv)  Acid insoluble ash % m/m, max . 2 ISO 930 
v)  Non-volatile ether extract % m/m, min.  7.5 ISO 1108  
vi)  Crude fibre %m/m, max.  15 Annex A  
 
4.2.2  Tea masala shall be ground to such fineness that all of it passes through a sieve of 500 micron (0.500 
mm).  DEAS 920: 2017  
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  3 
 5 Food additives  
Tea masala shall be free from added colouring matter , flavour  and preservatives.  
6 Contaminants  
6.1 Pesticide residues  
Pesticide residues in tea  masala shall not  exceed maximum residue limit as established by the Codex  Online 
Guideline for pesticide residue in food.  
6.2 Heavy metal  
Heavy metals in tea  masala shall not exceed maximum residue limit as stipulated in Codex Stan 193.  
6.3 Aflatoxin limits . 
Total aflatox in shall not exceed 10 µg/L and aflatoxin B 1 shall not exceed 5 µg/L when tested with ISO 16050 . 
7 Hygiene  
Tea masala shall be manufactured and handled in a hygienic manner in accordance with EAS 39 and shall 
conform to the microbiological limits stipulat ed in Table 2.  
Table 2 — Microbiological limits for tea masala  
S/No.  Organism  Limit  Test method  
i) Total plate count, cfu/g, max.  105 ISO 4833 -1 
ii) Yeast and mould cfu/g, max . 103 ISO 7954  
iii) Salmonella spp. per 25 g, max . Absent  ISO 6579  
v) Escheri chia coli  MPN/g, max . Absent  ISO 7251  
8 Weights  and measures  
The weight and fill of tea masala shall comply with the weights and measures regulations of Partner States or 
equivalent legislation.  
9 Packaging  
9.1 Tea masala shall be packed in clean and sou nd container made of food grade material and sealed with 
temper -proof seal. The container shall be made of a material which does not impart any smell, does not react 
with tea masala and protect it from ultra violet radiation, ingress of moisture and loss o f volatile matter.  
9.2 The packaging shall not be a source of contamination, and shall protect the product safety and quality 
during transportation and storage.  DEAS 920: 2017  
4 © EAC  2017  – All rights reserved  
 10 Labelling  
In addition to the requirements of EAS 38, the following specific labelling requi rements shall apply and shall be 
legibly and indelibly marked:  
a) Common name of the product ; 
b) brand name or trade name if any;   
c) name, physical location and address of manufacturer;  
d) list of ingredients in descending order of proportion by mass;  
e) net weight;  
f) date of manufacture/packing;  
g)  batch identification number/code;  
h) best before;  
i) country of origin; and  
j) storage condition.  
11 Sampling  
Sampling of tea masala  shall be done in accordance with ISO 948 . DEAS 920: 2017  
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved  5 
 Annex  A 
(normative)  
 
Determination of crude fibre  
A.1 Reagent s 
A.1.1  Petroleum ether :   
A.1.2  Dilute sulphuric acid : 1.25 % (m/v) accurately prepared.  
A1.3  Sodium hydroxide solution : 1.25 % (m/v) accurately prepared.  
A.1.4  Ethanol : 95 % (v/v) 
A.2 Procedure:  
Weigh accurately about 2.5 g of the ground material into  a thimble and extract for about 1 hour with petroleum 
ether using a Soxhlet apparatus. Transfer the material in the thimble to a one -litre flask. Take 200 ml of the 
dilute sulphuric acid in a beaker and bring to boil. Transfer the whole of the boiling aci d to the flask containing 
the fat -free material and immediately connect the flask with a water -cooled reflux condenser and heat so that 
the contents of the flask begin to boil within 1 minute. Rotate the flask frequently taking care to keep the 
material fr om remaining on the sides of the flask and out of contact with the acid. Continue boiling for exactly 
30 minutes. Remove the flask and filter through fine linen (about 18 thread to the centimetre) or through a 
coarse acid washed hardened filter paper, held  in a funnel  and wash with boiling water until the washings are 
no longer acidic to litmus paper. Bring some quantity of sodium hydroxide solution to boil under reflux 
condenser. Wash the residues on the filter into the flask with 200 ml of boiling sodium  hydroxide solution. 
Immediately connect the flask with the reflux condenser and boil for exactly 30 minutes. Remove the flask and  
immediately filter through the linen or the filter paper.  
Thoroughly wash the residue with boiling water and transfer to a Go och crucible prepared with a thin but 
compact layer of ignite asbestos. Wash the residue thoroughly first with hot water and then with about 15 
ml of ethyl alcohol and with three successive washings of 15 ml of petroleum ether each.  Dry the Gooch 
crucible  and contents at 105 ± 1 °C in an air -oven for 3 hours, cool and weigh. Repeat the process of drying 
for 30 minutes, cooling and weighing until the dif ference between two consecutive weighings is less than 1 
mg. Incinerate the contents of the Gooch crucib le in the muffle furnace at 550 ±20 °C until all the 
carbonaceous matter is burnt. Cool the Gooch crucible containing the ash in a desiccator  and weigh.  
A.3 Calculation   
Crude fibre (on dry basis), percent by mass  
    = 100 (M1 – M2) *  100  
                                 M        (100 -H) 
Where:   M 1 = mass in g of Gooch crucible and contents before ashing,  
               M2 = mass in g of Gooch crucible containing asbestos and ash,  
               M = mass in g of the material taken for the test  
                      H= moisture content of the sample as received  DEAS 920: 2017  
6 © EAC  2017  – All rights reserved  
  DEAS 920: 2017    
 
© EAC 2017  – All rights reserved