KENYA STANDARD                        KS 2799 :2018 
ICS 85.060; 67  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Paper  Plates,  Cups with lids for food 
packaging  —Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© KEBS 201 8 First Edition 201 8 
 
 
  KS 2799 :2018 
ii  © KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved  TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPRES ENTATION  
 
The following organizations were represented on the Technical Committee:  
 
Univer sity o f Nairobi – Chemistry Department  
Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute  
National Environment Management authority  
East African Packaging Industries  
Kenya Flo wer Council  
Consumer Information Network  
Government Chemist's Department  
Sumaria Industries Ltd.  
GS1 Kenya  
Nakumatt Holdings Ltd.  
Uchumi Supermarkets Ltd.  
Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM)  
Ministry o f Industrialization and Enterprise Development  
Institute of Packaging Professionals of Kenya  
Nestlé Ear  
Coca Cola East and  Central Africa Ltd.  
Barcode Global Standards 1 (EA) Ltd  
Institute of Packaging of Kenya  
Kenya Bureau of Standards — Secretariat  
 
 
 
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 , 201 8 
 
Copyright. Users are reminded that by virtue of Section 25 of the Copyright Act, Cap. 130 of 2001  of the Laws of Kenya, copy right 
subsists in all Kenya Standards and except as provided under Section 25 of this Act, no Kenya Standard produced by Ke nya Bureau of 
Standards may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or transmitted by any means without prior permission in  writing 
from the Managing Director.  
  KENYA STANDARD                                        KS 2799 :2018 
ICS 85.060; 67  
© KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved    iii  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Paper  Plates,  Cups with lids for food 
packaging  —Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
KENYA BUREAU OF STANDARDS (KEBS)  
 
Head Office: P.O. Box 54974, Nairobi -00200, Tel.: (+254  020) 605490, 602350, Fax: (+254 020)  604031  
E-Mail: info@kebs.org, Web:http://www.kebs.org  
 
Coast Region     Lake Region      Rift Valley Region  
P.O. Box 99376, Mombasa -80100   P.O. Box 2949, Kisumu -40100        P.O. Box 2138, Nakuru -20100  
Tel.: (+254  041) 229563, 230939/40  Tel.: (+254 057) 23549, 22396        Tel.: (+254 051) 210553, 210555  
Fax: (+254  041) 229448    Fax: (+254 057) 21814  
 
  KS 2799 :2018 
iv  © KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved   
Foreword  
 
This Kenya Standard was prepared by the Technical Committee on Packaging  under the 
guidance of the Standards Project s Committee, and it is in accordance with the 
procedures of the Kenya Bureau of Standards.  
 
 
Development of this standard was necessitated by the need to have paper plates,  Cups 
with lids  that  do not contain contaminants  that are  harmful to the consumers. The limits 
of heavy metals namely, arsenic, copper, iron, lead and others has been prescri bed since 
their presence in high levels is toxic to humans.  
 
 
Paper  plates,  cups with lids are largely used in food packaging . The basic factors taken 
into consideration while laying down the requirements of these products are  the quality of 
the paperboard, Coating wax, printing inks, adhesives that shall not exceed prescribed 
limits  among others . The packaging material shall be free from micro -organisms and any 
other disease causing pathogens.  
 
This standard shall be useful t o manufacturers, consumers, importers, exporters, 
standards enforcement agencies and other stakeholders in checking quality of Paper 
based packaging material for locally manufactured or i mported  food products . 
 
Parameters covered in the standard include he avy metal contents, organic pollutants and 
microbial contamination among others . 
 
During the preparation of this standard, reference was made to the following document:  
 
IS 3263,Specification for Ice cream Cups and lids . 
 
Acknowledgement is hereby made for  the assistance derived from this source . 
  
KENYA STANDARD        KS 2799 :2018 
 
 
© KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved    1 Paper Plates, Cups with lids for food packaging —Specification  
 
1 Scope  
 
This Kenya  Standard specifies  the requirements and  prescribes test methods for  paper  plates,  cups  with 
lids used for  food  packaging.  
 
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 amendments ) applies.  
 
KS EAS 880 Waxed paper for packaging of confectionery — Specification  
 
KS ISO 287, Paper and board — Determination of moisture content of a lot — Oven -drying method  
 
KS ISO 536,  Paper and board — Determination of  grammage  
ISO 5628, Paper and board -- Determination of bending stiffness -- General principles for two -point, three -
point and four -point methods  
ISO 13302, Sensory analysis -- Methods for assessing modifications to the flavour of foodstuffs due to 
packaging  
ISO 216, Writing paper and ce rtain classes of printed matter — Trimmed sizes — A and B series, and 
indication of machine direction  
 
KS ISO 8784 -1, Pulp, paper and board — Microbiological examination — Part 1: Total count of bacteria , 
yeast, mould based on disintegration  
 
ISO 13914, Soil quality — Determination of dioxins and furans and dioxin -like polychlorinated biphenyls by 
gas chromatography with high -resolution mass selective detection (GC/HRMS)  
 
3 Requirements  
 
3.1 Material  
 
3.1.1  Paper   
 
The paper used for t he manufacture of plates, cups  with lids shall be made  from virgin chemical wood pulp, 
blended  or recycled . 
 
3.1.2 The paper used for the manufacture of plates, cups  with lids shall be free from contaminants  listed in 
Tables 1 and 2.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 KS 2799 :2018 
2  © KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved   
 
 
Table 1 — Chemical and physical requirements of paper  plates, cups  with lids  used for food 
packaging  
 
 
S/No  Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
i.  Grammage, gsm, %,,min 133 ISO 536  
ii.  Stiffness of the paper, min MD 110 g cm  ISO 5628:2012  
CD 40 g cm  
iii.  For waxed plate, cups  with lids, Paraffin  wax 
and its blends, °C, min.  60 KS 2621  
iv.  For waxed plate, 
cups  with lids, Wax 
content, %, mass, 
min. Grade 1  20 KS EAS 880  
Grade 2  40 
v.  Burst factor, kPa min. 20 KS ISO 2758  
vi.  Water vapour permeability, when tested for 24 
h at 38 °C ± 1 °C and 90 % ± 2 % RH, g/m3, 
max.  140 KS ISO 16532 -1 
vii.  Odour  Shall not Impart off 
flavour  KS ISO 13302  
viii.  Dimension, mm  As per the 
declaration with a 
tolerance of ±1   KS ISO 216  
ix.  Volume of the cups  As per the 
declaration  Within the tolerance of dimension  
declared in accordance to KS ISO 
216 
 
 
3.1.3  The heavy metal contaminants and organic pollutants if present shall not exceed the limits stated in 
table 2  
 
 
Table 2 — Limits of heavy metal contaminants and organic pollutants paper plates,cups with lids  
paper for Ice cream Cups and Lids used for food packaging  
 
 
S/N Contaminant   mg/kg of paper  Test method  
i) Cadmium (Cd2+),max. 0.5 KS EAS 880  
ii) Chromium Cr6+ 0.1 
iii) Lead (Pb2+),max . 3.0 
iv) Mercury  (Hg2+),max . 0.3 
v) Pentachlorophenol 
(PCP),  max. 0.05 
vi) Polychlorinated 
biphenyl  2.0 
 
3.2 Resistance to deep freezing  for paper plates,cups with lids  
 
 
 KS 2799 :2018 
© KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved    3 When tested in accordance with annex A  the the products  shall withstand the deep freeze conditions for 30 
days.  
 
3.3 Microbiological examination  
 
Paper  plates, cups  with lid s shall comply with  microbiological requirements given in Table 3. 
 
Table 2 — Microbiological limits for paper plates,cups  with lids  
 
S/N Characteristic  
 Limit Test method  
i) Total plate  count,cfu/g,max.  
 300  
 
 
KS ISO 8784 -1 ii) Pseudomonas aeruginosa , cfu/g  
 Not detected in 1 
g of the product  
iii) Staphylococcus aureus , cfu/g  
 
iv) Candida albicans , cfu/g  
 
v) Escherichia coli , cfu/g  
 
 
 
 
 
 
3.3 Leak proofness  
 
When tested in accordance with annex B , the paper plates, cups  with lids shall be leak proof. There shall be 
no cracks on the outer curling of the paper plates, cups  with lids  and the base curling shall be uniform. Glue 
spots shall be absent where the paper plates, cups  with lids  are seamed.  
 
 
 
4 Packaging and m arking  
 
4.1 Packaging  
 
Paper plates, cups  with lids shall  be packed in suitable materials that  prevents them from contamination  and 
damage during normal handling, storage and  transportation.  
 
4.2 Marking  on bulk package for paper plates and cups with lids  
 
Paper plates, cups  with lids shall be legibly and indelibly marked with the following information.  
 
a) manufactures/suppliers name or trade mark or both ; 
b) words, “made from virgin pulp, blended and recycled” ; 
c) month and year of manufacture ; 
d) the volume of the  cups with lids ; 
e) number of pieces  
f) dimension in milimetres  
g) country of origin/manufacture . 
 
 KS 2799 :2018 
4  © KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved   
4.3 Marking  on paper plates and cups with lids  
 
a) Batch number  
b) manufactures/suppliers name or trade mark or both  at the bottom ; 
c)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 KS 2799 :2018 
© KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved    5  
 
Annex A  
(normative)  
 
Resistance to deep freezing  
 
 
A.1 Apparatus  
 
A.1.1 A freezing compartment that can be  operated up -40 oC  
 
A.1.2 paper plates, cups  with lids   
 
A.2 Procedure  
 
A.4.1  Sample paper plates, cups  with lids  are placed in a freezing compartment that operates up  to -35 oC 
for a period of 30 days.  
A.4.2 At the end of this period the samples are removed from  the compartment  and observed for any defects 
such separation of the seam , fading of the prints,  deformation etc.  
 
A.3 Conclusion   
 
The sample is shall comply if no defects mentioned in  clause  A.2 are observed.   KS 2799 :2018 
6  © KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved   
Annex B  
(normative)  
 
Leak proofness  
B.1  Apparatus  
 
B.1.1 paper plates,cups with lids  
 
 
B.3 Reagents  
 
B.3.1 Water  
 
 
B.4 Procedure  
 
The sample paper plates,cups with lids  shall be filled with water and checked after 5 minutes for any 
leakage.  The paper plates,cups with lids  shall have complied with requirement if no leakage is observed.