DRAFT KENYA STANDARD    DKS 2788:2018  
ICS 67.060  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Virgin Coconut Oil - Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© KEBS 2018          First Edition 2018  DKS 2788:2018  
ii  © KEBS 2018— All rights reserved  TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPRESENTATION  
The following organizations were represented on the Technical Committee:  
Afroganics Essential  
Amal Organics  
Diamond Industries  Ltd 
Kentaste Products Ltd  
Kwale Coconuts  
Muyaza Virgin Coconut Oil  
Pwani Oils Ltd  
Sylo Health Products  
Kenya Bureau of Standards – Secretariat  
 
 
 
 
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improvements to published standards, addressed to the Managing Director, Kenya Bureau of Standards, are 
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© Kenya Bureau of Standards, 2018  
 
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Kenya Standards and except as provided under section 26 of this Act, no Kenya Standard produced 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.  
  DRAFT KENYA STANDARD     DKS 2788:2018  
ICS 67.060  
© KEBS 2018— All rights reserved   iii  
 
 
 
 
 
Virgin Coconut Oil - Specification  
 
 
 
 
KENYA BUREAU OF STANDARDS (KEBS)  
 
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  DKS 2788:2018  
iv  © KEBS 2018— All rights reserved  Foreword  
This Kenya Standard was prepared by the Edible fats and Oils TC  under the guidance of the Standards Project 
Committee, and it is in accordance with the procedures of the Kenya Bureau of Standards.  
This draft standard addresses the quality and safety requirements necessary to produce a safe product for 
human consumption  while promoting the basis for promoting the p roduction of virgin coconut oil in the country.  
 
During the preparation of this standard, reference was made to the following documents:  
Codex Stan 210: Codex standard for named vegetable Oils and fats  
Mohamed, I., H . & Bader, A.,T.(2015). Physicochemical characteristics of some imported edible vegetable oils in 
Iraq. Research Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical sciences, 6 , 5 (pg 448 – 494).  
Oduom, W. & Edusei, O.,V. (2015). Evaluation of saponification value, iodine value and insoluble impu rities in 
coconut oils from Jamoro district in western region of Ghana. As ian Journal of Agriculture and Food Sciences, 3 , 
5, (pg 494 – 499).  
 
Acknowledgement is hereby made for the assistance derived from these sources.  
 
 
 
  DRAFT KENYA STANDARD   DKS 2788:2018   
 
© KEBS 2018— All rights reserved    1 Virgin Coconut Oil - Specifica tion 
1 Scope  
This Draft Kenya  Standard specifies the requirements, methods of sampling and tests for virgin coconut oil  
for human consumption . 
2 Normative references  
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this standard . The latest edition of 
the standard shall apply : 
 3 Definition  
For the purpose of this standard, the following definitions shall apply:  
KS EAS 38, Labeling of prepackaged foods - Specification.   
KS EAS 39,  Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing indust ry - Code of practice.   
KS EAS 804,  Claims  – General requirements  
KS EAS 805,  Use of Nutrition and health claims - Requirements  
KS ISO 660,  Animal and vegetable fats and oils - determination of acid value and acidity  
KS ISO 661, Animal  and vegetable fats and ols - preparation of test sample   
KS ISO 662,  Animal and Vegetable fats and oils -Determination of moisture and volatile matter content   
KS ISO 663,  Animal and vegetable fats and oils - Determination of insoluble impurities content.   
KS ISO 2590,  General method for the determination of arsenic - Silver diethyldithiocarbamate photometric 
method   
KS ISO 3960,  Animal and vegetable fats and oils - Determination of peroxide value.  
KS ISO 5555, Animal and vegetable fats and oils - Sampling.   
KS IS O 8294,  Animal and vegetable fats and oils - determination of copper, iron and nickel contents - graphite 
furnace atomic absorption method   
KS ISO 10539,  Animal and vegetable fats and oils - Determination of alkalinity.   
KS ISO 12193,  Animal and vegetable fats  and oils - Determination of lead by direct graphite furnace atomic 
absorption spectroscopy.   
KS ISO 17189,  Butter, edible emulsions and spreadable fats - Determination of fat content (Reference method).   
3.1   
Virgin Coconut oil  
edible oil obtained witho ut altering the nature of oil . For example by use of mechanical procedures  such as  
expelling or pressing, and  the application of heat only  without the use of solvents . It may have been purified by 
washing with water, settling, filtering and centrifuging on ly  DKS 2788:2018  
2  © KEBS 2018— All rights reserved  3.2 
fats and oils  
food stuffs which are composed of glycerides of fatty acids of vegetable, animal or marine origin. They may 
contain small amounts of other lipids such as phosphatides, unsaponifiable constituents and free fatty acids 
naturally present in the fat or oil  
3.3 
non –virgin (refined) fats and oils  
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.  
3.4 
edible fats and oils  
food stuffs whi ch are composed of glycerides of fatty acids of vegetable, animal or marine origin complying with 
the provisions of this standard. They may contain small amounts of other lipids such as phosphatides, 
unsaponifiable constituents and free fatty acids natural ly present in the in the fat or oil.   
3.5 
edible vegetable fat  
3.6 
Health claim  
is a representation that states, suggests or implies that a relationship exists between a food or constituent of that 
food and health  
3.7 
Label  
is any tag, brand, marks, pictor ial or other descriptive matter, written, printed, stencilled, marked, embossed or 
impressed on, or attached to, a container of any products within the scope of this standard . 
3.8 
Nutrition claim  
is any representation which states, suggests or implies that  a food had particular nutritional properties including 
but not limited to the energy value  and to the content of protein, fat and carbohydrates, as well as the content of 
vitamins and minerals  with the exception of mentioning the substance on the list of ingredients and qualitative 
and quantitative declaration of nutrient as may be required in regulations or product standards   DKS 2788:2018  
© KEBS 201 7— All rights reserved   3 4 Quality requirements and essential composition  
4.1  General requirements  
4.1.1 Virgin coconut  oil shall be free from foreign and/o r rancid odour and/or taste.  
4.1.2 The colour shall be characteristic of coconut oil  
4.1.3 Chemical extraction using solvents shall not be used in the production of virgin coconut oil  
4.2 Specific compositional requirements  
The virgin coc onut oil shall co mply with the quality requirements in Table 1 . 
Table 1  Specific compositional requirement for blended oils  
SL No.  Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
i).  Fat content, % by mass, min.  99.5 ISO 17189  
ii).  Moisture and Volatile matter  at 105 
°C, %, m/m, max.  0.2 ISO 662  
iii).  Insoluble impurities, %, m/m, max.  0.05 ISO 663  
iv).  Soap Content, %, m/m, max.  0.005  ISO 10539  
v).  Acid value, (mg/KOH/g (max).  4 ISO 660  
vi).  Peroxide value, (mEq oxygen/kg 
(max.))  15 ISO 3960  
vii).  Iron (Fe) mg/kg, max.  5 ISO 8294  
viii).  Copper, mg/kg, max . 0.4 
 
5 Contaminants  
5.1 Pesticide residues  
Virgin coconut oil  shall comply with those maximum pesticide residue limits established by the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission for this commodity.  
5.2 Other contaminants  
Virgin coconut oil shall comply with tho se maximum limits specified in Table 2.  
Table 2 — Heavy metal contaminants limits in Virgin coconut oil  
SL No  Contaminant (mg/kg)  Max. Limit  Method of test  
i) Lead (as Pb)  0.1 ISO 12193  
ii) Arsenic (as As)  0.1 ISO 2590   DKS 2788:2018  
4  © KEBS 2018— All rights reserved  6 Hygiene  
Virgin coconut oil  shall be produced, processed, handled and stored in accordance with KS EAS 39.  
7 Packaging  
7.1 Virgin coconut oil  shall be packaged in food grade containers and sealed in manner to ensure the safety and 
quality requirements specified in this standard are mai ntained throughout the shelf life of the product.  
7.2 The packaging material, printing inks used and adhesives (where used) on the labels shall not contain 
harmful chemicals that may migrate into the Virgin coconut oil  to present a hazard to human.  
8 Label ling 
8.1 Labelling of Virgin coconut oil shall be done in accordance with KS EAS 38. In addition the following shall 
be shown:  
a) name of the product; The name  shall be ‘Virgin coconut oil’ ; 
b) the name, address and physical location of the manufacturer/distribu tor; 
8.2 Any health and nutrition claim attached to blended oil shall be in accordance with KS EAS 804 and KS 
EAS 805.  
11 Sampling  
Sampling shall be carried in accordance with ISO 5555  and samples prepared for testing according to ISO 661.