DRAFT KENYA STANDARD  DKS  2995 :2024  
ICS 67.200 
First  Edition  
  
  
 © KEBS 2024  
 Virgin avocado oil  — Specification  
 
  
 
 
DRAFT KENYA STANDARD  DKS  2995 :2024  
ICS 67.200 
First  Edition  
 
© KEBS 2024  – All rights reserved  ii 
  TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPRESENTATION  
The following organizations were represented on the Technical Committee:  
University of Nairobi  
Egerton University  
Kapa Oil Refineries Ltd.  
Bidco Africa Ltd.  
Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)  
Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI)  
Government Chemists Department  
Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) — Nuts and Oil Crops Directorate (NOCD) and Horticultural Crops 
Directorate (HCD) Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH)  
Agventure  Limited  
Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH)  
Crofts Limited  
Fairoils EPZ Limited  
Upfield Kenya Limited  
Kenya Bureau of Standards — Secretariat  
   
 DRAFT KENYA STANDARD  DKS  2995 :2024  
ICS 67.200 
First  Edition  
 
© KEBS 2024  – All rights reserved  iii 
  REVISION OF KENYA STANDARDS  
In order to keep abreast of progress in industry, Kenya Standards shall be regularly reviewed.  Suggestions for 
improvements to published standards, addressed to the Managing Director, Kenya Bureau of Standards, are 
welcome.  
© Kenya Bureau of Standards, 2024  
Copyright. Users are reminded that by virtue of Section 25 of the Copyright Act, Cap. 130 of 2001 of the Laws of Kenya, copyr ight subsists 
in all Kenya Standards and except as provided under Section 25 of this Act, no Kenya Standard produced by Kenya Burea u of Standards 
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or transmitted by any means without prior permission in writing f rom the 
Managing Director.   DRAFT KENYA STANDARD  DKS  2995 :2024  
ICS 67.200 
First  Edition  
 
© KEBS 2024  – All rights reserved  iv 
  Virgin avocado oil  — Specification    
 
 
Kenya Bureau of Standards,  Popo Road, Off Mombasa Road,  
P.O. Box 54974 - 00200,  Nairobi, Kenya  
 +254 020 6948000, + 254 722202137, + 254 734600471  
 info@kebs.org  
 @KEBS_ke  
 kenya bureau of standards (kebs)  
  
DRAFT KENYA STANDARD  DKS  2995 :2024  
ICS 67.200 
First  Edition  
 
© KEBS 2024  – All rights reserved  v 
  Foreword  
This Kenya Standard was prepared by the Edible fats and oils  Technical Committee under the guidance of the 
Standards Projects Committee, and it is in accordance with the procedures of the Kenya Bureau of Standards  
This standard addresses the quality and safety requirements necessary to produce a safe product for human 
consumption.  The development of this standard a ims at promot ing local production, consumption and trade of 
edible  virgin and extra virgin avocado oil . The standard also seeks to provide quality and safety aspects that 
are required to sustain  the avocado oil industry in the country and promote production of surplus which can be 
exported regionally and internationally.  Additionally, the standard specifies requirements for both virgin and 
extra virgin avocado  oils giving distinct quality and safety requirements for each , 
During the preparation of this standard, reference was made to the following document s 
     CXS 19: Standard for Edible Fats and Oils not Covered by Individual Standards   
     Avocado oil -HortResearch, the horticulture and food research institute, oil s and fat group  
Acknowledgement is hereby made for the assistance derived from these source sDKS 2995 :2024  
© KEBS 2024  – All rights reserved  vi 
    DRAFT KENYA STANDARD  DKS  2995 : 2024  
 
© KEBS 2024  – All rights reserved  1 
 Virgin avocado oil  — Specification  
1 Scope  
This draft Kenya standard specifies requirements, sampling and test methods for  virgin and extra virgin  avocado 
oil derived from the fruit of the avocado ( Persea americana ) intended for human consumption.  
This standard does not apply for crude, refined and blended avocado oils.  
2 Normative references  
The following referenced documents 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 re ferenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
KS EAS 38, Labelling of prepackaged foods  — Specification  
KS EAS 3 9, Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry  — Code of Practice  
KS EAS 803, Nutrition Labelling — Requirements  
KS EAS 804,  Claims — General requirements  
KS EAS 805, Use of  Nutrition and health claims — Requirement s 
KS ISO 660, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of acid value and acidity  
KS ISO 661, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — 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 3657, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of saponification value  
KS ISO 396 0, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of peroxide  value  
KS ISO 396 1, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of iodine  value  
KS ISO 5555, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Sampling  
KS ISO 6320, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of refractive index  
KS ISO 6883, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of conventional mass per volume (litre weight 
in air)  
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 13547 -2, Copper, lead, zinc and nickel sulphide concentrates — Determination of arsenic Part 2 Acid 
digestion and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometric method  DKS  2995 :2024  
© KEBS 2024  – All rights reserved  2 
 ISO 21033, Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of trace elements by inductively coupled 
plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP -OES  
 
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions shall apply.   
3.1  
virgin avocado oil  
oil obtained from avocado fruit without altering its nature that may be obtained by use of mechanical procedures 
such as expelling or pressing, with or without the application of heat and without the use of solvents. It may 
have been purified by washing with water, settling, filtering an d centrifuging only.  
3.2  
extra virgin avocado oil  
virgin avocado oil obtained from high quality avocado fruit and with distinct chemical composition  characteristic s  
3.3   
foreign matter  
any undesirable material visible with naked eye in a packaged virgin avocado  oil.  
3.4   
food grade packaging material  
packaging material, made of substances which are safe and suitable for the intended use and which will not 
impart any toxic substance or undesirable odour or flavour to the product . 
 
4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
Virgin avocado oil shall:  
a) be free from foreign matter  
b) be free from rancid or undesirable odour and/or taste.  
c) have characteristic  colour  of virgin avocado  oil. 
4.2 Specific requirements  
Virgin avocado oil shall comply with the specific requirements given in Table 1, when tested in accordance 
with the methods specified therein.  
Table 1 — Specific compositional and quality requirements for virgin  avocado oil  
S/N Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  DKS  2995 :2024  
© KEBS 2024  – All rights reserved  3 
 ii) Moisture and Volatile matter at 105 °C, 
%, m/m, max.  0.2 KS ISO 662  
iii) Insoluble impurities, %, m/m, max.  0.05 KS ISO 663  
iv) Soap Content, %, m/m, max.  0.005  KS ISO 10539  
v) Acid value, (mg/KOH/g (max).  
• Virgin  
 
• Extra virgin   
4.0 
2.0 
 KS ISO 660  
vi) Peroxide value, (mEq oxygen/kg 
(max.))  
• Virgin  
• Extra virgin   
15 
10 
 KS ISO 3960  
vii) Iron (Fe) mg/kg, max.  5 ISO 21033  
viii) Copper, mg/kg, max.  0.4 
ix) Iodine Value  gI2per 100g  70-95 KS ISO 3961  
x) Saponification value, mg KOH/g oil  177-199 KS ISO 3657  
xi) Refractive index,  at 20ºC 1.457- 1.472 KS ISO 6320  
xii) Relative density at 20 ºC  0.910 – 0.925  KS IS0 6 883 
 
5  Food additives and flavouring agents  
Virgin avocado oil shall not contain food additives and/or flavouring agents.  
6 Contaminants  
6.1 Pesticide residues  
Virgin avocado oil shall comply with those maximum pesticide residue limits established by the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission for this commodity .  
6.2 Heavy metal contaminants  
Virgin avocado  oil shall comply with the maximum limits of heavy metals as specified in Table 2 when tested in 
accordance with the test methods therein.  
                          
 DKS  2995 :2024  
© KEBS 2024  – All rights reserved  4 
 Table 2  Heavy metal contaminants limits in Virgin avocado oil  
S/N Contaminant (mg/kg)  Max. limit  Test method  
i) Lead (Pb)  0.08 KS ISO 12193  
ii) Arsenic (As  0.1 KS SO 13547 -2 
 
7  Hygiene  
Virgin avocado  oil shall be produced, processed, handled  and stored in accordance with KS EAS 3 9. 
8  Packaging  
8.1 Virgin avocado oil shall be packaged in food grade material and sealed in manner to ensure the safety and 
quality requirements specified in this standard are maintained throughout the shelf life of the product.  
8.2 The packaging material, printing inks used and adhesives (where used) on the labels shall not contain 
harmful chemicals that may migrate into the virgin avocado oil to present a hazard to human.  
9  Labelling  
9.1 In addition to the labelling requirements specified in KS EAS 38, the following information shall be legibly 
and indelibly labelled:  
a) Name of the product  as Virgin avocado oil or Extra virgin avocado  oil  
10     Nutritional and health claims  
Any health and nutrition claim attached to virgin avocado  oil shall be in accordance with  KS EAS 803,  KS EAS 
804 and KS EAS 805.  
 
11 Sampling  
Sampling and sample preparation for test shall be done in accordance with KS 1SO 5555 and KS ISO 661 
respectively.  
 DKS  2995 :2024  
© KEBS 2024  – All rights reserved  5 
 Annex  A 
(informative ) 
 
Gas Liquid Chromatography (GLC) fatty acid composition  
When required the fatty acid profile should be determined by Gas Liquid Chromatography. Ranges of fatty acids 
are as given in Table A.1  
                                    Table A.1 — GLC fatty acid composition for virgin avocado oil 
Carbon configuration  Composition, %  
C14 ˂ 0.06 
C16:0  10.0 – 30.0 
C16:1  8.0 – 15.0  
C17:0  ˂ 0.05 
C17:1  ˂ 0.1.  
C18:0  < 0.9  
C18:1  40.0 – 85.0 
C18:2  7.0 – 15.0 
C18:3  0.4 – 0.9 
C20:0  0.05 – 0.09 
C20:1  ˂ 0.2 
C22:0  ˂ 0.05 
C24:0  ˂ 0.06 
 
 
 DKS 2995 : 2024    
 
© KEBS 2024 – All rights reserved