DEAS 1076 : 2021  
ICS 67.220  
 
© EAC 2021                                                                                                                               First Edition 2021  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Cinnamon ( Cinnamomum zeylanicum  Blume)  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 1076 : 2021  
ii © EAC  2021  – All rights reserved  
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Violators may be prosecuted . DEAS 1076 : 2021  
© EAC 2021  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African S tandards 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 se rvices 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 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 government, 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 incorporate d before finalization of standards, in 
accordance with the Principles and procedures for development o f East African Standards.  
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 .  
The committee responsible for this document is Technical Committee EASC/TC 006, Spices, condiments and 
culinary herbs.  
Attention is drawn to the  possibility that some 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.  
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1076 : 2021 
 
© EAC 2021  – All rights reserved  1 
 Cinnamon ( Cinnamomum zeylanicum  Blume)  — Specification  
1 Scope   
This draft East Afr ica standard specifies the requirements, sampling and test methods for whole or 
ground (powdered) cinnamon which is the bark of the tree or shrub Cinnamomum zeylanicum  Blume intended 
for human consumption  
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 a mendments) applies.  
Codex online guideline for pesticide residues in food  
CODEX STAN 193, Codex g eneral  standard for contaminants and toxins in food and feed   
EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packaged foods  — General requirements  
EAS 39, Hygiene in the food and dr ink manufacturing industry — Code of practice  
EAS 803, Nutrition labelling — Requirements  
EAS 804,  Claims — General requirements  
ISO 927, Spices  and condiments  — Determination  of extraneous  matter  and foreign  matter  content  
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 — Sampling  
ISO 4833 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the enumeration of mi croorganisms 
— Part 1: Colony count at 30 oC by the pour plate technique  
ISO 6571, Spices, condiments and herbs — Determination of  volatile oil content (hydrodistilation method)  
ISO 6579 (all parts), Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for t he detection, enum eration 
and serotyping of salmonella    
ISO 16050, Food stuffs — Determination of aflatoxin B1, and the total content of aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 and G2 
in cereals, nuts and derived products — High-perfomance liquid 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  DEAS 1076 : 2021  
2 © EAC  2021  – All rights reserved  
 ISO 16649 -2, Microbiology of food and animal f eeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of beta 
–glucuronidase -positive Escherichia coli — Part 2: Colony count technique at 44ºC using 5 -bromo -4-chloro -3-
indolyl beta –D-glucuronide  
3 Terms and definitions   
For the purposes of this document , the following terms and definitions apply.  
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp  
3.1 
cinnamon  quill 
full tube  
scraped peel of the inner bark of mature plantation cinnamon shoots joined together by overlaps, the hollow of 
which has been filled with small pieces of the same peel and thereafter dried in the sun after air curing  
3.2  
extraneo us matter  
this includes foreign matter like chaff, dried leaves, stones, soil particles dust, dirt or any matter other than 
cinnamon  
3.4 
cinnamon  chip 
dried unpeelable bark of plantation cinnamon, inclusive of the outer bark, which has been obtained by  beating 
or scraping the shoots  
3.5 
ground  cinnamon  
powder  obtained  by grinding  cinnamon  of the types  considered  in this International  Standard,  excluding  all 
additives  
3.6 
whole  cinnamon  
all commercial  forms  of cinnamon  except  cinnamon  powder  
3.7 
foxing  
occu rrence of reddish -brown patches on the surface of the quills, which may become dark brown with  time 
3.8 
bale 
package  of any one particular  grade  of quills  wrapped  in a suitable  material  for export  purposes  
 
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
 Cinnamon  shall  
a. have fresh and characteristic odour and flavour of cinnamon.  DEAS 1076 : 2021  
© EAC 2021  – All rights reserved  3 
 b. be free from foreign  flavours, including  mustiness.  
c. be free from live insects, mould growth, mites and insect remains,  
d. be practically free from dead insects, insect fragments and rodent contamination  visible  to the naked  
eye. 
4.2 Specific requirements  
4.2.1 Whole  cinnamon  and ground  cinnamon  shall comply  with the requirements  given  in Table 1. 
Table  1 — Specific requirements for whole and ground cinnamon  
Characteristic  Requirements  Test method  
Acid Insoluble Ash  2 ISO 930 
Moisture content for whole , % (mass  fraction),  max.  14 ISO 939 
Moisture content for ground , % (mass  fraction),  
max.  12 
Volatile oil for whole , ml/100  g, on dry basis,  min. 1 ISO 6571  
Volatile oil for ground , ml/100 g, on dry basis, min.  0.7 
Total ash , % (mass  fraction),on  dry basis,  max.  7 
 ISO 928 
Extraneous matter,% (mass fraction),max  1 ISO 927 
 
4.2.2  Cinnamon  shall be ground to such fineness that 98% of it passes through a siev e of 500 micron 
(0.500 mm).  
5 Food additives  
The use of  food additives in cinnamon shall be in accordance with Codex Stan 192.  
6 Contaminants  
6.1 Pesticide residues  
Pesticide residues in cinnamon shall not exceed maximum residue limits as established in th e Codex online 
guideline for pesticide residues in food.  
6.2 Heavy metals  
Heavy metals in cinnamon shall not exceed maximum heavy metal limits as stipulated in CODEX STAN 193.  
6.3 Aflatoxin limits  
Total aflatoxin shall not exceed 10 µg/kg and aflatoxin B1 shall not exceed 5 µg/kg when tested with ISO 
16050.  
7  Hygiene  
Cinnamon shall be manufactured and handled in a hygienic manner in accordance with EAS 39 and shall 
comply with the microbiological limits stipulated in Table 2 when tested in accordance with the methods 
specified therein.  DEAS 1076 : 2021  
4 © EAC  2021  – All rights reserved  
 Table 2  — Microbiological  requirements  for cinnamon (whole and ground)  
S/No  Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
i.  Total plate count, cfu/g, max.  105 ISO 4833 -1 
ii.  Yeast  and moulds, cfu/g, max.  104 ISO 21527 -2 
iii.  Salmonella s pp., per 25 g   Absent  ISO 6579  
iv.  E coli , MPN/g, max.  Absent  ISO 16649 -2 
 
8 Packaging  
Whole and ground cinnamon shall be packaged in food grade packaging material that secures the integrity 
and the safety of the product.  
9 Labelling  
In addition to the re quirements of EAS 38, EAS 803 and EAS 804, each container shall be legibly and indelibly 
labelled with the following information:  
a) “’Name of product “cinnamon chips/ quills and or ground/ powdered cinnamon”.  
b) trade name or brand name if any;  
c) name, p hysical and postal address of manufacturer and / or packer;  
d) batch or code number;  
e) net weight in metric units;  
g) storage conditions;  
h) best before;  
i) year of harvest; and  
j) instructions for use.  
k) country of origin  
10 Sampling  
Sample  consignments  of cinnamon  in accordance  with ISO 948. 
 
 
 
 
 DEAS 1076 : 2021  
© EAC 2021  – All rights reserved  5 
 Annex  A 
(informative)  
 
Recommendations relating to storage and transport conditions  
A.1 The containers  of cinnamon  should  be stored  in covered  premises,  well protected  from the sun, rain  
and excessive  heat.  
A.2 The store  room  should  be dry, free from objectionable  odours  and proofed  against  entry  of insects  and 
vermin.  The ventilation  should  be controlled  so as to give good  ventilation  under  dry conditions  and to be fully 
closed under damp conditions. In a stora ge warehouse, suitable facilities should be available  for fumigation.  
A.3 The containers  should  be so handled  and transported  that they are protected  from the rain, from 
the sun or other source of excessive heat, from objectionable odours and from cross -infestation,  especially in  
the holds of ships.  
 DEAS 1076 : 2021  
6 © EAC  2021  – All rights reserved  
 Bibliography  
ISO 6538, Cassia, Chinese type, Indonesian type and Vietnamese type [ Cinnamomum aromaticum  (Nees) 
syn. Cinnamomum cassia (Nees) ex Blume, Cinnamomum burmanii (C.G. Nees) Blume and  Cinnamomum  
lourei rii Nees]  — Specification  
 DEAS 1076 : 2021    
 
© EAC 2021  – All rights reserved