DRAFT UGANDA STANDARD FINAL DRAFT UGANDA 
STANDARD  
  FDUS EAS 798 
First  Edition  
2013-mm-dd 
 
 Reference number  
FDUS EAS 798: 2013 
© UNBS 201 3 
  
Lipid food supplements ― Requirements  
 DRAFT UGANDA STANDARDFDUS EAS 798: 2013 
ii                © UN BS 2013 - 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 application  
© UNBS 2013 
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  
 DRAFT UGANDA STANDARDFDUS EAS 798: 2013 
© UNBS  2013 - 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 3 27, 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 Trade 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, academicians, 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 Final Draft Uganda Standard, FDUS EAS 798 : 2013, Lipid food supplements ― Requirements , is 
identical with  and has been reproduced from an East African  Standard,  EAS 798: 2013 , Lipid food 
supplements ― Requirements , and is being proposed for adoption as a Uganda Standard.  
Wherever the words, “ East African Standard" appear, they should be replaced by "Uganda Standard." 
 
  DRAFT UGANDA STANDARD FDEAS 798: 2013  
ICS 67.230  
© EAC 2013                                                                                                                              First Edition 2013  
 
FINAL DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD 
Lipid food supplements ― Requirements  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY DRAFT UGANDA STANDARDDRAFT UGANDA STANDARDFDEAS 798: 2013  
ii © EAC  2013  – 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 without 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 purpose of selling it should be addressed 
as shown below or to EAC’s member body in the country of the requester:  
© East African Community 2013  — All rights reserved 
East African Community  
P.O.Box 1096 
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Fax: 255 27 2504481/2504255 
E-mail: eac@eachq.org 
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement. 
Violators may be persecuted 
 DRAFT UGANDA STANDARDFDEAS 798: 2013  
© EAC 2013  – All rights reserved  iii 
 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 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 .  
This Final Draft East African Standard, FDEAS 798:2013, was prepared by the Technical Committee 
EASC/TC 018, Nutrition and foods for special dietary uses. The Committee is composed of representatives 
from National Standards Bodies, regulators , academia, the private sector and consumer organizations in 
Partner States. 
 DRAFT UGANDA STANDARDDRAFT UGANDA STANDARDFINAL DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  FDEAS  798: 2013 
 
© EAC 2013  – All rights reserved  1 
 Lipid food supplements — Requirements 
1 Scope 
1.1 This Final Draft East African Standard specifies the requirements for lipid food supplements used for 
complementing the normal diet with essential fatty acids. 
1.2 This standard covers lipid food supplements primarily providing essential fatty acids and presented in 
forms such as capsules, paste or liquid. The product may be taken directly or added another food with the 
primary objective of increasing the energy content of the food and provide essential fatty acids. 
1.3 This standard does not cover lipid food supplements intended for special dietary uses or 
medical/therapeutic purposes. 
2 Normative references  
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application 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. 
AOAC 971.21, Mercury in foo d — Flameless Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric method  
AOAC 973.34, Cadmium in f ood — Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric method  
AOAC 996.06, Fat (total, saturated, and unsaturated) in foods — Hydrolytic extraction — Gas 
chromatographic method 
CAC/GL 1-1979, Ge neral guidelines on clai ms  
CAC/GL 2 1985, Codex guidelines on nutrition labelling 
CAC/GL 23, Guidelines for use of nutrition and health claims 
CODEX STAN 192:1995 , General standard for food additives 
EAS 38, General standard for the labelling of pre-packaged foods 
EAS 39, Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry – Code of practice 
ISO 2590, General method for the determination of arsenic — Silver diethyldithiocarbamate photometric 
method  
ISO 4832, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
coliforms — Colony-count technique 
ISO 4833, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
microorganisms — Colony count technique at 30 °C DRAFT UGANDA STANDARDFDEAS 798 :2013 
2 © EAC  2013  – All rights reserved  
 ISO 5508, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Analysis by gas chromatography of methyl esters of fatty 
acids 
ISO 6579, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of Salmonella 
spp. 
ISO 6888-1 , Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs  — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
coagulase-positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species) — Part 1: Technique using 
Baird-Parker agar medium 
ISO 11290-1, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection and 
enumeration of Listeria monocytogenes — Part 1: Detection method  
ISO 12193, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of lead by direct graphite furnace atomic 
absorption spectroscopy  
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 21527- 2, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
yeasts and moulds — Part 2: Colony count technique in products with water activity less than or equal to 0.95  
3 Terms and definitions 
For the purposes of this standard, the following terms and definitions shall apply. 
3.1 
lipid food supplement 
product composed of primarily fat and/or oil formulated in manner that it provides essential fatty acids 
presented in forms such as capsules, paste or liquid, intended to be taken in measured small quantities but 
not in conventional food form and whose primary purpose is to complement the normal diet. The product may 
contain vitamins and/or minerals as a way of improving its nutritional content. 
3.2 
nutrient reference values (NRVs) 
set of numerical values that are based on scientific data for purposes of compositional and nutritional labelling 
and relevant claims. NRVs are based on levels of nutrients associated with nutrient requirements, or with the 
reduction in the risk of diet-related non-communicable diseases 
4 Requirements 
4.1 General requirements 
4.1.1  The lipid food supplement shall have acceptable flavour and odour and shall be free from rancid, 
musty or any other foreign odour or flavour characteristic of spoilage. 
4.1.2  The product shall be free from dirt, extraneous and deleterious material. 
4.2 Compositional requirements 
4.2.1 The product shall contribute no more than 10 % of total energy requirement in a day. 
4.2.2 The product composition shall at minimum, provide the essential fatty acids and  both saturated fatty 
acids and trans fatty acid in compliance to the limits in Table 1. DRAFT UGANDA STANDARDFDEAS 798 :2013 
© EAC 2013  – All rights reserved  3 
 NOTE It is recommended that iron and copper should be less than 5 mg/kg and 1 mg/kg respectively, as exceeding 
this limit may contribute to the product going rancid. However, when appropriately coated forms are used, the limit may be 
exceeded without the product going rancid. 
Table 1 — Limits of essential fatty acids, saturated fatty acids and transfatty acids in lipid food 
supplements/100 g 
SL NO.  Paramete r kcal 
contribution  Grams  % 
contribution 
of energy  Methods of 
test 
min. max.  min. max.  min. max.  
i.  Linoleic acid ( Omega -6 fatty acid ) 31.5 45 3.5 5 3.5 5 
ISO 5508  ii.  α-linolenic acid ( Omega -3 fatty acid ) 3.5 5.4 0.4 0.6 0.4 0.6 
iii.  Docosahexa enoic acid ( DHA)  1 1.5 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 
iv.  Saturated fatty acids (SFA)  — 70.5 — 7.8 — 8.0 AOAC 996.06  
v.  Transfatty acids (TFA)  — 9.2 — 1 — 1 ISO 15304  
 
4.2.3  The sources of lipids or essential fatty acids may be either natural or synthetic and their selection shall 
be based on considerations such as safety and bioavailability. In addition, purity criteria shall take into account 
Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) standards. 
5 Heavy metal contaminants 
The lipid food supplements shall not have any heavy metals in amounts that can cause harm to the 
consumers and in particular, the product shall comply with the heavy metal limits when tested in accordance 
with the methods specified in Table 2. 
Table 2 — Limits of heavy metal contaminants i n lipid food supplements 
SL No  Contaminant  Maximum limit,  
mg/kg  Methods of test  
i.  Arsenic  0.1 ISO 2590  
ii.  Lead  3 ISO 12193  
iii.  Cadmium  3 AOAC 973.34  
iv.  Mercury  0.1 AOAC 971.21  
6 Hygiene 
6.1 The lipid food supplements shall be prepared and packaged in the premises built and maintained under 
hygienic conditions in accordance with EAS 39. 
6.2 The product shall be free from pathogenic microorganisms and in particular shall conform to the limits 
when tested in accordance with the test methods in Table 3. DRAFT UGANDA STANDARDFDEAS 798 :2013 
4 © EAC  2013  – All rights reserved  
 Table 3 — Microbiological limits for lipid food supplements 
SL No  Characteristic  Limits  Methods of test  
i.  Total plate count, cfu/g, max.  103 ISO 4833  
ii.  Coliform bacteria count/g  absent  ISO 4832  
iii.  Salmonella sp  cfu /25g  absent  ISO 6579  
iv.  Staphylococcus aureus  count/g absent  ISO 6888 -1 
v.  Listeria  count/25 g  absent  ISO 11290 -1 
vi.  Mould/yeast cfu/g max  < 300  ISO 21527 -2 
7 Packaging 
7.1 The lipid food supplements shall be pack aged in containers of food grade material in such a way as to 
protect them from deterioration and contamination. 
7.2 The fill of the container shall be in accordance to the Weights and Measures legislation of the 
destination country. 
8 Labelling 
8.1 General labelling requirements 
Lipid food supplements shall be labelled in accordance with EAS 38. 
The amount of nutrients, including essential fatty acids shall be declared on the label in accordance with 
CAC/GL 2:1985. 
Nutrition and health claims on lipid food supplements may be made in accordance with CAC/GL 1-1979 and 
CAC/GL 23-1997. 
8.2 Specific labe lling requirements 
8.2.1 Name of the product 
The name of the product shall be ‘ Lipid food s upplement’ .  
8.2.2 Nutritional information 
The label at the minimum shall declare the total energy and parameters provided in Table 1. Where the 
product is not packaged in 100 g, the percentage contribution by the parameters in table shall be declared. 
8.2.3 Instructions for use 
The label shall indicate how the product is to be used in relation to the targeted age group, quantity, frequency 
and any special conditions and precautions that need to be observed. 
8.3 Specific prohibition and statements 
8.3.1 The labelling, presentation and advertising shall not attribute to a food supplement, the property of 
preventing, treating or curing a human disease or refer to such properties. DRAFT UGANDA STANDARDFDEAS 798 :2013 
© EAC 2013  – All rights reserved  5 
 8.3.2  The label shall contain a warning not to exceed the stated daily dose recommended by the 
manufacturer as indicated in 8.2.3. 
8.3.3  The label shall have a statement to the effect that food supplements should not be used as a 
substitute for meals or normal diet. 
In addition the label, presentation or advertisement shall not include any mention stating or implying that a 
balanced diet cannot provide appropriate quantities of nutrients in general. 
8.3.4  The label shall have a statement to the effect that the product should be stored out of reach of 
children. 
8.4 Other requirements 
In addition to the above requirements, the following shall be included on the label: 
a) name, location and address of the manufacturer; 
b) country of origin where applicable; 
c) ingredients in descending order of proportions; 
d) food additives by their specific names; 
e) date of manufacture; 
f) expiry date; 
g) batch/ lot number; 
h) condition of storage; 
i) declaration of content of EPA and DHA, if concentrated fish oil is used; 
j) net content ; and 
k) allergen(s) if any. 
 DRAFT UGANDA STANDARDDRAFT UGANDA STANDARDFDEAS 798: 2013    
 
© EAC 2013 – All rights reserved