 DEAS  827: 2021  
ICS 67.120.30  
© EA C 2021                                                                                                                                Second Edition  
 
DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Fresh and frozen whole fin fish — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
  DEAS  827: 2021  
ii © EAC  2021  – All rights reserved  
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Violators may be persecuted  DEAS  827: 2021  
© EAC 2021  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East Af rican 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 Community 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 represe ntatives 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 Par tner States. The comments 
received are discussed 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 Eas t 
African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
FDEAS 827 was prepared by the Technical Committee EASC/TC 003, Fish and fishery products . 
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS  827:2021  
 
© EAC 2021  – All rights reserved  1 
 Fresh and frozen whole fin fish — Specification  
1 Scope  
This Draft East African Standard specifies requirements and methods of sampling and test for fresh and 
frozen whole fin fish  for human consumption . 
2 Normative references  
The following referenced documents are indispensable for  the application 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.  
AOAC 952.13, Arsenic in food ― Silver diethyldibocarbamate me thod 
AOAC 972.23, Lead in fish ― Atomic absorption spectrophotometric method  
AOAC 973.34, Cadmium in food ― Atomic absorption spectrophotometric method  
AOAC 977.13, Histamine in sea food ― Fluorometric method  
AOAC 983.20, Mercury (methyl) in fish and shell fish― Gas chromatographic method  
AOAC 2015.01, Heavy metals in food  
CAC/GL 50 -2004 , General guideline on sampling  
CAC/RCP 52 -2003, Code of practice for fish and fishery product s 
CODEX STAN 192 -1995, General standard for food additives  
EAS 12, Drinking (pot able water) — Specification  
EAS 38, Labelling of pre -packaged foods — Requirements  
EAS 39,  Hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry ― Code of practice  
ISO 4833 -1, Microbiology of the food chain  — Horizontal method for the enumeration of microo rganisms — 
Part 1: Colony -count technique at 30 degrees C  by the pour plate technique  
ISO 6579, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection of Salmonella 
spp. 
ISO 6888 (all parts) , Microbiology of food and animal fe eding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration 
of coagulase -positive staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus and other species)  
ISO 7251, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection and 
enumeration of presumptive  Escherichia coli — Most probable number technique  DEAS  827: 2021  
2 © EAC  2021  – All rights reserved  
 ISO 7937, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
Clostridium perfringens — Colony -count technique  
ISO 11290 (all parts) , Microbiology of food and animal f eeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the detection 
and enumeration of Listeria monocytogenes  
ISO/TS 21872 (all parts) , Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the 
detection of potentially enteropathogenic Vibrio spp.  
3 Terms  and definitions  
For the purposes of this standard, the following terms and definitions shall apply.  
3.1  
fin fish  
fresh w ater and marine vertebrate fish  
3.2  
whole fish  
fish as captured, gutted/ungutted, with/without scales, head on or beheaded  
 
3.3 
fresh  fin fish  
fish that has not been frozen, dried or otherwis e preserved, except by chilling;  fish in rigor  deemed to be fresh 
fish 
3.4 
gutted fish  
fish from which the guts have been removed. Gutting consists of bleeding the fish and removal of the stomach 
and gut . 
3.5 
rigor mortis  
stiffening of the muscles of an animal which results from a series of complex changes that take place in the 
tissues shortly after death  
3.6 
chilling  
process of cooling fish to a temperature approaching  that of melting ice ( between 0 °C – 4 °C) 
3.7 
food grade material  
packaging material, made of substances which are safe and suitable for their intended use and which will not 
impart any toxic substance or undesirable odour, colour or flavour to the product  
3.8 
Clean water  
it is the m edium through which the fish to be wash free from objectionable substance and microorganism.  
3.9 
Frozen fish  
fish that has been subjected to a frozen state that attain a core core  temperature of  -18°C or below  
 DEAS  827: 2021  
© EAC 2021  – All rights reserved  3 
 4 Requirements  
4.1 General requirements  
Fresh and frozen whole fin fish shall comply with the general requirements as indicated in the statements and 
Table 1.  
 
i. Fish with or without scales , head on or beheaded,  gutted/ungutted  
ii. Captured f ish should be of legal size  as per Partner States regulation  
 
Table 1  — General requirements for fresh and frozen whole fin fish  
 
Fresh/ chilled fin fish  Frozen fin fish  
a) be in a sound, wholesome condition;  When thawed the frozen fish will have 
characteristics provided for the fresh/chilled 
fin fish  
b) be bright in ap pearance;  Free from freezer burn/dry patches  
c) have a fresh characteristic smell of its 
species;  Free from discolouration  
d) have prominent, bright, clear and moist eyes;   
e) have bright red gills;   
f) have bright abdominal blood;   
g) be firm, and shall have elast ic flesh;   
h) The slime on fresh fish shall be transparent.   
 
4.1.3 Water used for preparation of the fish shall  be potable  comply ing with EAS 12.  
4.2 Specific requirements  
4.2.1  Fresh fish shall be stored at chilling temperature (0  °C – 4 °C). 
4.2.2  Frozen  fish shall be mai ntained at a temperature of -18 °C or lower.  
4.2.3  When tested in accordance with AOAC 977.13 , the level of histamine in  fish such as scromboids 
species shall not exceed 10 ppm.  
5 Food additives  
Food additives may be used in the preparati on of fresh and frozen whole fin fish in accordance with CODEX 
STAN 192.  
6 Hygiene  
The product shall be prepared and handled in a hygienic manner in accordance with EAS 39  and CAC/RCP 
52 and shall comply with the microbiological limits given in Table 2. 
 
 
 
 DEAS  827: 2021  
4 © EAC  2021  – All rights reserved  
 Table 2 — Microbiological limits for fresh and frozen whole fin fish  
S/No. Micro -organisms  Maximum limit Test m ethod  
i) Salmonella  spp per 25 g  Absent  ISO 6579 -1 
ii) Escherichia  coli, MPN/g  10 ISO 16649 -2 
iii) Listeria monocytogenes  per 25 g  Absent  ISO 11290 -1 
iv) Staphylococcus aureus , CFU/g  103 ISO 6888 -1 
v) Vibrio Spp . per 25  g  Absent  ISO/TS 21872 -1 
vii) Total viable count , CFU/g  105 ISO 4833 -1 
7 Contaminants  
7.1 Heavy metals  
Fresh and frozen whole fin fish s hall comply with the heavy metal  limits given in Table 3. 
 
Table 3 — Heavy metal limits for fresh and frozen whole fin fish  
S/No. Heavy metal  Maximum limit , 
mg/kg  Test m ethod  
(i) Lead  0.3 AOAC 972.2 3 
(ii) Cadmium  0.3 AOAC 973 .34 
(iii) Mercury  0.5 AOAC 2015.01  
7.2 Mycotoxins  
Aflatoxin  for cultured fish shall not exceed the limits for total 10ppb and B1 5ppb tested as per ISO 1605 . 
7.3 Veterinary drug residues  
The product  shall comply with those maximum veterinary drug residue limits established by the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission.  
7.4 Pesticide residues  
The product  shall comply with those maximum pesticides residue limits established by the Codex Alimentarius 
Commission.  
8 Packaging  
Fresh and frozen whole fin fish shall be packaged in food grade containers which will safeguard the hy gienic, 
nutritional, and organoleptic qualities of the product.  
9 Labelling  
9.1 General  
In addition to the requirements in EAS 38, the following specific labelling requirements shall apply and shall be 
legibly and indelibly marked:  DEAS  827: 2021  
© EAC 2021  – All rights reserved  5 
 a) origin of the fin fish  whether cultured or captured”;  
b) Common Name /species name or family  
c) with or without scale  
d) name of the product shall be "Fresh /chilled fin fish or frozen whole fin fish”;  
e) storage and transportation conditions declaring the temperature to be -18 °C or lower for frozen  and 0 
°C -4 °C for fresh/ chilled ; 
f) name and physical address of processor;  
g) net weight in grams or kilograms;  
h) date of production;  
i) batch number;  
j) expiry date.;  
k) instruction for use; and  
l) country of origin.  
9.2 Labelling of non -retail containers  
Inform ation on the above provisions shall be given either on the container or in accompanying docu ments, 
except that the name of the product, lot identification, and the name and address of the processor or packer 
as well as storage instructions, shall appear on the container.  
However, lot identification, and the name and address of the processor or pa cker may be replaced by an 
identification mark provided that such a mark is clearly identifiable with the accompanying documents.  
10 Sampling  
Sampling shall be done in accordance with CAC/GL 50 . 
 
 
    
DEAS  827: 2021  
© EAC 2021  – All rights reserved  
  
  