FINAL DRAFT UGANDA 
STANDARD  
  FDUS EAS 95
First Edition
2011-mm-dd
 
 Reference numbe r
FDUS EAS:95 2011
© UNBS 2011
  
Sorghum flour — Specification  
 FDUS EAS 95: 2011 
i i                 ©  U N B S  2011 - 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 2011 
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, in cluding 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  
 FDUS EAS 95: 2011 
© UNBS  2011 - All rights rese rved                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 U ganda. 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 A limentarius Commission on Food Standards, and  
(c) the National Enquiry Point on TBT/SPS Agr eements 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 gi ven field or area and consists of representatives of 
consumers, traders, academician s, manufacturers, governme nt and other stakeholders. 
Draft Uganda Standards adopted by the Technical Committ ee 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 95: 2011 , Sorghum flour — Specification, i s identical with  and 
has been reproduced from an East  African Standard, EAS 95: 2011 , Sorghum flour — Specification,  and is 
being proposed for adoption as a Uganda Standard.  
This standard was developed by the Food and agricu lture Standards Technical Committee (UNBS/TC 2).  
Wherever the words, “East African Standard" appea r, they should be replaced by "Uganda Standard." 
 
  EAS 95:2011
ICS 67.060
 
© EAC 2011 Second Edition 2011  
 
       
EAST AFRICAN STANDARD 
 
Sorghum flour — Specification 
 
 
 
 
  
 
   
 
 
 
      
     
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  
 EAS 95:2011  
 
Foreword 
 
Development of the East African Standards ha s been necessitated by the need for harmonizing 
requirements governing quality of products and services in East Africa. It is envisaged that through 
harmonized standardization, trade barriers which are encountered when goods and services are 
exchanged within the Comm unity will be removed.  
 In order to meet the above objectives, the EAC Partner States have enacted an East African 
Standardization, Quality Assurance, Metrology an d Test Act, 2006 (EAC SQMT Act, 2006) to make 
provisions for ensuring standardization, quality as surance, metrology and testing of products 
produced or originating in a third country and traded in the Community in order to facilitate industrial 
development and trade as well as helping to protect the health and safety of society and the 
environment in the Community. 
 
East African Standards are formulat ed in accordance with the proc edures established by the East 
African Standards Committee. The East Afri can Standards Committee is established under the 
provisions of Article 4 of the EAC SQMT Act, 2006. The Committee is composed of representatives of the National Standards Bodies in Partner States, t ogether with the representatives from the private 
sectors and consumer organizations. Draft East African Standards are circ ulated to stakeholders 
through the National Standards Bodies in the Pa rtner States. The comments received are discussed 
and incorporated before finalization of standards, in accordance with the procedures of the 
Community.  
 
Article 15(1) of the EAC SQMT Act, 2006 provides t hat “Within six months of the declaration of an 
East African Standard, the Partner States shall adopt, without deviation from the approved text of the 
standard, the East African Standard as a nationa l standard and withdraw any existing national 
standard with similar scope and purpose”.  
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.  
 
© East African Community 2011 — All rights reserved
* 
East African Community  P O Box 1096  
Arusha 
 
Tanzania  Tel: 255 27 2504253/8 Fax: 255-27-2504481/2504255 
E-Mail: eac@eachq.org
 
Web: www.each.int  
                                                 
* © 2011 EAC — All rights of exploitation in any form and by an y means reserved worldwide for EAC Partner States’ NSBs.  
 
ii © EAC 2011 — All rights reserved EAS 95:2011  
Table of contents 
 
1 Scope  .................................................................................................................................. 1  
2 Normative references  ......................................................................................................... 1  
3 Terms and definitions  ........................................................................................................ 1  
4 Quality Requirements  ........................................................................................................ 1  
5 Food additives  .................................................................................................................... 2  
6 Contaminants  ..................................................................................................................... 2  
7 Hygiene  .............................................................................................................................. 3  
8 Packaging  ........................................................................................................................... 3  
9 Labelling  ............................................................................................................................ 3  
10 Methods of sampling.......................................................................................................... 4  
© EAC 2011 — All rights reserved iii EAS 95:2011  
iv © EAC 2011 — All rights reserved  
Introduction 
 
Sorghum flour is used mainly for porridge and as a su bstitute for special dietary food. In recent years 
its consumption has greatly increased leading to commercial production. This standard has therefore 
been developed to protect the consumer from fraud and  adulteration that may occur during production 
that may be hazardous to health or intended to cheat the consumers as well guiding the manufacturer 
in production. The revision to this standard addr essed the compositional requ irements as a result of 
changes such as improved varieties that have been released to the market.  
 
 EAS 95:2011  EAST AFRICAN STANDARD 
 
Sorghum flour — Specification 
 
 
1 Scope 
 
1.1 This East African Standard specifies requi rements and methods of sampling and test for 
sorghum flour for human consumption. 
 1.2 This standard does not apply to grits or meal obtained from Sorghum bicolour  (L) Moench. 
 
2 Normative references 
 The following normative documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text constitute 
provisions of this East African Standard.  
EAS 38, Labelling of prepackag ed foods — Specification 
 
EAS 39, Hygiene in the food and drink manufac turing industry — Code of practice 
 
EAS 103, Schedule for permitted food additives 
 
EAS 41, Fruits, vegetables and derived products 
 
EAS 74, Methods of test for animal feedstuffs 
 
EAS 82, Milled cereal products — Methods of test 
 
ISO 13690, Cereals, pulses and milled products — Sampling of static batches  
 
EAS 217, Methods for the microbiol ogical examination of foods 
 ISO 9648, Sorghum – Determination of tannin  
ISO 16050, Foodstuffs — Determination of aflatoxin B1, and the total content of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 
and G2 in cereals, nuts and derived products — High-performance liquid chromatographic method 
 CODEX Stan 193, Codex general Standards for contaminants and toxins in Food and Feed  
 
3 Terms and definitions 
 
For the purpose of this East African Standard, the following definition shall apply 
 
3.1 
Sorghum flour 
 product destined for human consumption which is obtained from sorghum grains ( Sorghum bicolour 
(L.) Moench ) through a process of milling during which t he grain is cleaned, and the endosperm is 
reduced to a powder.  
4 Quality Requirements  
 
4.1 Raw materials 
 The sorghum from which the flour is obtained shall be suitably decorticated and of sound quality, free 
from sand, have characteristic odour and flavour complying with the relevant East African Standards
 
© EAC 2011 — All rights reserved  1 EAS 95:2011  
 
4.2  General requirements 
 
4.2.1 Sorghum flour shall be safe and suitable for human consumption. 
 
4.2.2 Sorghum flour shall be free from abnormal flavours, odours, and living insects. 
 4.2.3 Sorghum flour shall be free from filth (impurities of animal origin, including dead insects) in 
amounts which may represent a hazard to human health. 
 
4.2.4  All processing of the sorghum including drying milling or other treatment of the sorghum, 
intermediate milling products and the milled sorghum flour shall be carried out in a manner that:  a) minimizes loss of nutritive value, particularly protein quality; 
 
b) avoids undesirable changes in technological properties of the sorghum flour;  
c) avoids having unground grains and hull in the flour. 
 
4.3 Specific requirements 
 
4.3.1 Particle size 
 
Using a standard method of sifting, not less than 85 per cent of the flour shall pass through a sieve of 
mesh diameter 1 mm for ‘medium' flour and 0.5 mm for ‘fine’ flour. 
  
4.3.2  Sorghum flour shall conform to the specific requirements in Table 1 
 
Table 1 — Specific requirements 
 
Characteristic Level Method of test 
Moisture content, per cent max. m/m 13.0 EAS 82 
Crude ash content, per cent max. 1.5 EAS 82 
Acid insoluble ash, pe r cent max. 0.40 EAS 82 
Protein content, per cent max. (Nx5.7) 8.5 EAS 74 
Crude fat content, per cent max. 4.7 EAS 74 
Fibre content, per cent max. 2.5 EAS 82 
Tannin content %m/m max. 0.3 ISO 9648 
Total Aflatoxin (AFB1+AFB2+AFG1 +AFG2)), 
ppb max 10 ISO 16050 
Aflatoxin B1 only, ppb max 5 
Fumonisin ppm max 2 
 
 
5 Food additives 
 
The product shall contai n only permitted additives complying with EAS 103. 
 
6 Contaminants 
 
6.1 Heavy metals 
 Sorghum flour shall comply with those maximum limits for heavy metals established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission for this commodity.  
 
2 © EAC 2011 — All rights reserved EAS 95:2011  
6.2 Pesticide residues 
 
Sorghum flour shall comply with those maximum residue limits established by the Codex Alimentarius 
Commission for this commodity. 
 
Note: where the use of certain pesticides is prohibited by some Partner States, then it shall be notified to 
all Partner States accordingly. 
 
6.3 Mycotoxins 
 
Sorghum flour shall comply with those maximu m mycotoxin limits established by the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission for this commodity. The sorghum flour shall not exceed total aflatoxin of 10 
ppb and 5 ppb for aflatoxin B1 when tested in accordance with ISO 16050. 
 
7 Hygiene 
 
7.1 Sorghum flour shall be produced, prepared and handled in accordance with the provisions of  
appropriate sections of EAS 39   
 
7.2 When tested by appropriate methods of sampling and examination, the product: 
 
⎯ shall be free from microorganisms in amounts which may represent a hazard to health; 
 
⎯ shall be free from parasites which may represent a hazard to health; and 
 
⎯ shall not contain any substance originating from  microorganisms in amounts which may represent 
a hazard to health. 
 
7.3 The product shall be free from pathogenic micro-organisms and shall comply with 
microbiological limits in Table 2.  
Table 2 — Microbiological limits 
 
Sl. No. Micro-organism Maximum limit Methods of test 
 (1)  Total aerobic count per g  10
5  EAS 217 
 (11)  E. Coli  per 1 g  Not detectable   EAS 217 
 
(III)  Salmonella  per 25 g  Not detectable  EAS 217 
(iv) Yeast and Moulds cfu/g 104 EAS 217 
(V) S.aureus  per 25 g Not detectable EAS 217 
 
8 Packaging  
 8.1 Sorghum flour shall be packaged in containers which will safeguard the hygienic, nutritional, 
technological, and organoleptic qualities of the product. 
 
8.2 The containers, including packaging material, shall be food grade. 
 8.3 When the product is packaged in sacks, thes e must be clean, sturdy and strongly sewn or 
sealed. 
9 Labelling 
 In addition to the requirements in EAS 38, each pack age shall be legibly and indelibly marked with the 
following: 
 
i) product name as “Sorghum flour” and the terms ‘Fine' or ‘Medium', in accordance with Clause 
© EAC 2011 — All rights reserved  3 EAS 95:2011  
4 © EAC 2011 — All rights reserved 4.3.1, shall appear in close prox imity to the name of the food. 
 
ii) name, address and physical location of the manufacturer/ packer/importer; 
 iii) lot/batch/code number; 
 
iv) net weight, in kg;   
Note: EAC partner states are signatory to the International Labour Organizations (ILO) for maximum package weight of 50kg 
where human loading and offloading is involved. 
 
v) the declaration “Food for Human Consumption’’; 
 vi) storage instruction as “Store in a cool  dry place away from any contaminants’’; 
 vii) Date of manufacture;  
viii) expiry date; 
 ix) instructions on disposal of used package; 
 
x) country of origin;  
 
10 Methods of sampling  
 Sampling shall be done in accordance with the ISO 13690.  
 EAS 95:2011  
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
© EAC 2011 — All rights reserved