DEAS 1128 : 2023  
ICS 67.220.20  
 
© EAC 2023                                                                                                                               First Edition 2023  DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Food grade acesulfame potassium — Specification   
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  
 
 DEAS 1128 : 2023  
ii © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
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 DEAS 1128 : 2023  
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Stand ards 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 barriers that are encountered when goods and servic es 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 
Standa rds 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 representative of key 
stakeholders including gove rnment, 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 comments received are discussed and incorporated be fore finalization of standards, in 
accordance with the Principles and procedures for development of East African Standards.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards are ther efore 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 005, Food additives . 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of t he elements of this document may be subject of patent 
rights. EAC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  DEAS 1128 : 2023  
iv © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 Introduction  
Acesulfame Potassium (Potassium Salt of 6 -Methyl -1,2,3 -Oxathiazin -4(3h) -One-2,2-Dioxide; Potassium Salt 
of 3,4 -Dihydro -6-Methyl -1,2,3 -Oxathiazin -4-One-2,2-Dioxide) is a low calorie artificial sweetener, sugar 
substitute and flavour enhancer. It is used in the preparation of products such as beverages, desserts, sweets, 
dairy products, chewing gums, ener gy-reduced and weight control products, as a table -top sweetener and in 
the preparation of food for diabetics.  
In the Codex Alimentarius Commission International Numbering System, Acesulfame potassium is assigned 
as INS 950 and the FAO/WHO Joint Experts C ommittee on Food Additives (JECFA) established the 
Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for Acesulfame Potassium at 0 mg/kg – 15 mg/kg body weight.  
The food categories in which the food additive, Acesulfame Potassium, is permitted for use are as  given in  
accordan ce with  CXS 192 -1995 . 
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1128 : 2023  
 
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved    
1 Food grade acesulfame potassium — Specification  
1 Scope  
This Draft East African Standard specifies requirements, sampling and test methods for food grade 
acesulfame potassium intended for use in food products  . 
2 Normative referen ces  
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 refe renced document (including any amendments) applies.  
AOAC 999.11, Determination of Lead, Cadmium, Copper, Iron, and Zinc in Foods, Atomic Absorption 
Spectrophotometry after Dry Ashing  
AOAC 952.13  
CODEX STAN 107 , General standard for the labelling of food ad ditives when sold as such  
CAC/GL 50, General guidelines on sampling  
ISO 10523 , Water quality — Determination of pH  
3 Terms and definitions   
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.  
ISO and IEC maintain terminological da tabases for use in standardization at the following addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp  
food grade material  
material, made of substances that  are safe and suitable for their  intended use and which will not impart any 
toxic substance or undesirable odour or flavour to the product  
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
Food grade acesulfame  potassium shall be:  
a) a white, odourless, crystalline powder; and  
 
b) soluble in water, slig htly soluble in ethanol .  
2 © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 4.2 Specific requirements  
Food grade acesulfame potassium shall  comply with the specific requirements given in Table 1 when tested in 
accordance with the test methods specified therein.  
Table 1 — Specific requirements for food gra de acesulfame potassium  
 
S/N Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
i Organic Impurities  
 Passes test for 20 
mg/kg of UV active 
components  Annex A  
ii Loss on drying,  (105 °C , 2 h)  % m/m, max.  1 Annex B  
iv pH, at 1% solution in water  5.5-7.5 ISO 10523  
 
Spectrophotometric absorbance shall be determined for the product by dissolving 10 mg of the sample in 1 
000 ml of water. The result shall be the maximum absorbance at 227±2 nm.  
 
5 Contaminants  
Food grade acesulfame  potassium shall comply with the maxim um levels of contaminants given in Table 2 
when tested in accordance with the test methods specified therein.  
Table 2 — Maximum Limits for contaminants in food grade acesulfame potassium  
S/N Contaminant  Maximum level  Test method  
i) Fluoride , mg/kg, max . 3 AOAC 999.11  
ii) Lead, mg/kg  1 AOAC 952.13  
 
 
6 Packaging  
The product shall be securely packaged in containers made of food grade materials. The packages shall 
preserve the quality and safety of the product and preclude contamination from the external env ironment.  
 
7 Labelling  
7.1 In addition to the requirements of CODEX STAN 107,  the product packages shall be legibly and indelibly 
labelled with the name of the product as “Acesulfame potassium”  or “Acesulfame K” ,. 
7.2 The labelling shall be in English or a ny other official language used in the importing East African Partner 
State.   
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  3 
 9 Sampling  
Representative samples of the product shall be drawn in accordance with CAC/GL 50.   
4 © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 Annex  A 
(normative)  
 
Assay: organic impurities  
A.1 Proceed as directed under the meth od for Chromatography (High Performance Liquid Chromatography, 
FNP 5) using the following conditions and using 4 -hydroxybenzoic acid ethyl ester as the reference 
substance:  
A.2 Column: 25 cm x 4.6 mm stainless steel Stationary phase: Reversed phase (C18 si lica gel, 3 - 5 µm) 
Elution: Isocratic Mobile phase: Acetonitrile/0.01 mol/l tetrabutyl ammonium hydrogen sulfate (TBAHS) in 
water; 40/60 v/v Flow: About 1 ml/min Detector type: UV or Diode array, 227 nm Sample size: 20 µl of a 10 g/l 
solution of the sampl e in deionized water  
A.3 The chromatographic system must be capable of separating acesulfame K and 4 -hydroxybenzoic acid 
ethyl ester with a resolution of 2. If peaks other than that due to acesulfame K appear within three times the 
elution time of acesulfa me K, carry out a second run using 20 µl of a 0.2 mg/l solution of the sample.  
A.4 The sum of the areas of all peaks eluted in the first run within 3 times the elution time of acesulfame K 
elution time, except for the acesulfame K peak, does not exceed the  peak area of acesulfame K in the second 
run. 
Assay: Organic Impurities (Alternate method)  
Dissolve about 0.15 g of the dried sample (dissolution may be slow), accurately weighed, in 50.0 ml glacial 
acetic acid and titrate potentiometrically with 0.1 N per chloric acid, or add two drops of crystal violet TS and 
titrate with 0.1 N perchloric acid, to a blue -green end -point which persists for at least 30 sec. Perform a blank 
determination and make any necessary correction. Each ml of 0.1 N perchloric acid is e quivalent to 20.12 mg 
of C4H4KNO4S.   
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  5 
 Annex  B 
(normative)  
 
Loss on drying  
B.1 Requirements  
B.1.1 Weighing bottle  with a stopper  
B.1.2 Air oven  
B.1.3 Desiccator  
B.1.4 Weighing scale  
B.2 Sample preparation  
Weigh 1 to 2 g of sample (M 1). Tare a glass -stoppered, shallow weighing bottle that has been dried for 30 
minutes at 105 ºC. Transfer the sample into the bottle, replace the cover, and weigh the bottle and the sample 
(M2). Distribute the sample as evenly as practicable to a depth of about 5 mm, and not over 10 mm.  
B.3 Procedure   
Place the bottle with its contents in the drying chamber, removing the stopper and leaving it also in the 
chamber, and dry the sample at the 105 ºC for 2 h. Upon opening the chamber,  close the bottle promptly and 
allow it to come to room temperature in a desiccator. Weigh the cool bottle and its contents (M 3).  
Calculate the loss on drying from the following equation:  
Loss on drying (%w/w) = 
  
where  
M1 is the mass of samp le in grams;  
M2 is the mass of sample and weighing bottle in grams before drying; and  
M3 is the mass of sample and weighing bottle in grams after drying and cooling in a desiccator.  
If the sample melts at a temperature lower than 105 ºC, prepare the samp le as described above, then place it 
in a vacuum desiccator containing sulfuric acid. Evacuate the desiccator to 130 Pa (1 mm of mercur y), 
maintain this vacuum for 24 h, and then weigh the dried sample. Calculate the loss on drying using the same 
equation a bove.   
6 © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 Bibliography  
 DEAS 1128 : 2023  
© EAC 2023  – All rights  reserved