UGANDA STANDARD  
  US EAS 63 
First  Edition  
2014-10-15 
 
 Reference number  
US EAS  63: 2014 
© UNBS 201 4 
   
Beer — Specification  
 US EAS 63: 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 application  
© 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 wr itten 
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 63: 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 mandat ed 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 Agreeme nts 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 
consu mers, 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 re commending the draft standards 
for approval and declaration as Uganda Standards by the National Standards Council.  
This Uganda Standard, US EAS 63: 2014, Beer — Specification , is identical with  and has been reproduced 
from an East African  Standard , EAS 63: 2014, Beer — Specification , and adopted  as a Uganda Standard.  
Wherever the words, “ East African  Standard" appear, they should be replaced by "Uganda Standard."  
 
   EAS 63: 2014  
ICS 67.160.10  
© EAC 2014                                                                                                                         Second  Edition 2014   
 
EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Beer  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  EAS 63: 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 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  2014  — All rights reserved  
East African Community   
P.O.Box 1096  
Arusha  
Tanzania  
Tel: 255 27 2504253/8  
Fax: 255 27 2504481/250425 5 
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 63: 2014  
© EAC 2014  – 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 Commu nity 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 discu ssed 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 t o ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
EAS 63 was prepared by Technical Committee EASC/TC 007, Alcoholic and non -alcoholic beverages . 
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition , EAS 63:2000, which has been technically revised.  
 EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  EAS 63: 2014  
 
© EAC 2014  – All rights reserved  1 
 Beer  — Specification  
1 Scope  
This East African Standard specifies  the requirements and methods of sampling and test for beer.  
2 Normative references  
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the app lication 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 192,  Codex general standard for food additives  
EAS 12, Drinking (potable) water  — Specification  
EAS 38, Labelling of prepackaged foods — Specification  
EAS 39, Hygiene in the food and drink industry — Code of practice  
EAS 10 0, Food stuffs — Methods of determination of Lead   
ISO 1842, Fruit and vegetable products  — Determination of pH   
ISO 4832 , Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
coliforms — Colony -count technique  
ISO 4 833-1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the enumeration of micro -organis ms — 
Part 1: Colony -count at 30 degrees C — Pour plate technique  
ISO 6634, Fruits, vegetables and derived products — Determination of arsenic content  — Silver 
diethyldithiocarbamate spectrophotometric method  
ISO 17240, Fruit and vegetable  products — Determ ination of tin content — Method using flame Atomic 
Absorption Spectrometry  
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of this standard, the following terms and definitions shall apply.  
3.1 
alcohol  
as ethyl alcohol (C 2H5OH) 
3.2 
beer  
beverage, containing ethyl  alcohol prepared by alcoholic fermentation of sugars derived mainly from malted 
and/or unmalted cereal grains and/or approved adjuncts  EAS 63: 2014  
2 © EAC  2014  – All rights reserved  
 3.3 
malt 
cereal grain (often barley), which has been steeped, allowed to germinate and then dried or kilned to halt 
further germination  
3.4 
unmalted cereal grains  
cereal grains that have not undergone the processes in 3.3  
3.5 
brewing  
process of converting malt and/or un malted cereal grains and adjuncts into beer  
3.6 
adjuncts  
any other source of fermentable sugar from an ag ricultural origin  other than malted barley  
NOTE  These materials are usually but not exclusively added in the brew house during the process of brewing.  
3.7 
potable water  
water complying with the requirements of EAS 12  
3.8 
extraneous matter  
include s inorg anic matter such as sand, glass, metal, gravel, dirt, pebbles, stones, lumps of earth, clay and 
mud and organic matter such as chaff, straw, weed seeds and grains of crops, insects or insects fragments, 
rodent hairs or any other foreign matter.  Extraneous matter does not include substances produced by 
interaction of normal beer ingredients as a result of natural ageing process such as polyphenols - protein 
interactions  
4 Requirements  
4.1 Ingredients  
4.1.1  Essential ingredients  
The following ingredients shal l be used for the production of beer:  
a) malted and / or unmalted grains;  
b) hops and /or products derived from hops; and  
c) potable water  complying with EAS 12 . 
4.1.2  Optional ingredients or adjuncts  
These may include unmalted cereal grains (see 3.4) and adjun cts (see 3.6).  
4.2 General requirements  
4.2.1 Beer shall be free from:  
a) any substances injurious to health;  
b) any extraneous matter;  EAS 63: 2014  
© EAC 2014  – All rights reserved  3 
 c) artificial sweetening agents;  
d) any artificial colorants except for those colouring agents prepared from sugar, barley, malt or any cereal 
grains; and  
e) any added alcohol.  
4.2.2  Bright lager beer shall have maximum haze of 2.5 EBC units  when tested in accordance with EAS 
104. 
4.3 Specific quality requirements  
Beer shall comply with the specific quality requirements specif ied in Table 1.  
Table 1 — Quality requirements for beer  
S/No.  Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
(i) Ethyl alcohol  content, % , v/v:  
 Non-alcohol ic beer  
 Low alcohol/light beer   
 Mild beer   
 Medium beer  
 Strong beer  less than 0.5  
0.5 - 2.4 
2.5 - 4.0 
4.1 - 5.5 
more than 5.5  EAS 104  
(ii) pH for cloudy beer  3.5 - 4.75 ISO 1842  
(iii) Carbon dioxide, %, v/v  
 Bottled/ canned beer.  
 Kegged beer  
  
2.4 - 7.0 
1.0 - 2.5  
EAS 104  
 
5 Food additives  
Food additives may be used in the preparation of beer in accordance with CODEX STAN 192.  
6 Processing aids  
Only food grade processing aids generally recognized as safe for human consumption shall be used during 
the manufacture of products covered by this standard.  
7 Hygiene  
Beer shall be manufactured and handled in a hygi enic manner in accordance with EAS 39 as specified in 
Table 2. 
Table 2 — Microbiological limits for beer  
S/No.  Organism  Limit  Test method  
i) Coliforms  Nil ISO 4832 
ii) Total plate count, cfu/mL, max.  100 ISO 4833 -1 EAS 63: 2014  
4 © EAC  2014  – All rights reserved  
 8 Contaminants  
8.1 Pesticide residues  
All the raw materials used in the production of beer shall comply with the maximum residue limits for 
pesticides as established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.  
8.2 Heavy metal  
Beer shall not contain heavy metals at levels exceeding the limits indica ted in Table 3.  
Table 3 — Limits for heavy metal contaminants in beer  
S/N
o. Type of impurity  Limit  Test method  
(i) Arsenic (as As), mg/L , max.  0.01 ISO 6634  
(ii) Lead (as Pb), m g/L, max.  0.01 EAS 10 0 
(iii) Tin, (as Sn) , mg/L, max.  150 ISO 17240  
 
8.3 Aflatoxin limits . 
Total aflatoxin shall not exceed 10 µg/L and aflatoxin B 1 shall not exceed 5 µg/L when tested with ISO 16050  
9 Weight s and measures  
The volume and fill of opaque beer shall comply with the weights and measures regulations of Partner States 
or equivalent legislation.  
10 Packaging  
10.1 Beer shall be packaged in suitable food grade containers.  
10.2 Beer shall be packaged for bulk delivery and storage in containers that shall prevent contamination of 
the product and preserve its safety and qua lity. 
11 Labelling  
In addition to the requirements of EAS 38, the following specific labelling requirements shall apply and shall be 
legibly and indelibly marked:  
a) name, physical location and address of manufacturer;  
b) ethyl alcohol content, % by volume;  
c) class of beer;  
d) list of ingredients in descending order of proportion by mass;  
e) net content in millilitres or litres ;  EAS 63: 2014  
© EAC 2014  – All rights reserved  5 
 f) a declaration by common name of any additives used;  
g) date of manufacture, batch identification number/code;  
h) best before;  
i) country of origin; and  
j) statutory warnings.  
12 Sampling and test  
Sampling  and testing of beer shall be done in accordance with EAS 104.  
 EAS 63: 2014    
 
© EAC 2014  – All rights reserved