PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFTDRAFT UGANDA 
STANDARDDUS DARS  1844 
First Edition  
2024-mm-dd
Reference number  
DUS DARS 1844: 2023 
© UNBS 2024 Dried insect products for compounded animal feeds —
SpecificationPUBLIC REVIEW DRAFTDUS DARS 1844: 2023  
ii                © UNBS  2024  - 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 applicatio n 
© UNBS 2024  
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, including 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  
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Uganda  
Tel: +256 41 7 333 2 50/1/2 
Fax: +256 41 4 286 123  
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 PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFTDUS DARS 1844: 2023  
© UNBS  2024 - All rights reserved                 iii National foreword  
Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) is a parastatal under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and 
Cooperatives established under Cap 327, of the Laws of Uganda, as amen ded. UNBS is mandated to co -
ordinate the elaboration of standards and is  
(a) a member of International Organisatio n for Standardisation (ISO),  
(b) a contact point for the WHO/FAO Codex Alimentarius Commission on Food Standards, and  
(c) the National Enquiry Point on TBT Agreement 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 given field or area and consists of representatives of 
consumers, traders, ac ademicians, manufacturers, government and other stakeholders.  
Draft Uganda Standards adopted by the Technical Committee are widely circulated to stakeholders and the 
general public for comments. The committee reviews the comments before recommending the dr aft standards 
for approval and declaration as Uganda Standards by the National Standards Council.  
This Draft Uganda Standard, DUS DARS 184 4: 2023 , Dried insect products for compounded animal feeds — 
Specification , is identical with and has been reproduced from an African  Standard, DARS 1844: 2023 , Dried 
insect products for compounded animal feeds — Specification , and adopted  as a Uganda Standard . 
The committee responsible for this document is Technical Committee UNBS/TC 210, Animal feeds and 
feeding stuffs . 
This standard  cancels  and replaces US 1712:  2017, Dried insect products for compounding animal feeds — 
Specification , which has been withdrawn . 
Wherever the words, “ African  Standard " appear, they should be replaced by "Uganda Standard ". 
 AFRICAN 
STANDARD  DARS  
1844  
First Edition 2023  
 
 Reference No. DARS 1844 :2023 (E) 
ICS 65.120  
 
 
© ARSO 2023  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dried insect products for compounded  
animal feeds — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DARS 1844 :2023  
ii © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved   
 
Table of contents  
1 Scope  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..............................  1 
2 Normative references  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...... 1 
3 Terms and definitions  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...... 2 
4 General requirements  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 2 
5      Hygiene  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...........................  3 
6     Microbiological limits  ................................ ................................ ................................ ........  3 
7    Contaminants  ................................ ................................ ................................ ....................  4 
8 Packaging  ................................ ................................ ................................ .......................  4 
9 Labelling  ................................ ................................ ................................ ..........................  4 
10 Sampling  ................................ ................................ ................................ .........................  5 
 
  DARS 1844 :2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  iii Foreword  
 
The African Organization for Standardization (ARS O) is an African intergovernmental organization 
established by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Organization of 
African Unity (AU)  in 1977 . One of the fundamental mandates of ARSO is to develop and harmoniz e 
African Standards (ARS) for the purpose of enhancing Africa’s internal trading capacity, increase 
Africa’s product and service competitiveness globally and uplift the welfare of African communities.  The 
work of preparing African  Standards is normally carried out through ARSO  technical committees. Each 
Member State  interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the 
right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, Regional Economic Communities 
(RECs), governmental and non -governmental  organizations , in liaison with ARSO , also take part in the 
work.  
 
ARSO  Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.  
 
The main task of technical committees is to prepare ARSO  Standards. Draft ARSO  Standards adopted 
by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an ARSO  
Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.  
 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of 
patent rights. ARSO  shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  
 
This African Standard was prepared by ARSO  TC 17 Animal Feeding, Feeds and Feeding stuffs . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© African Organisation for Standardisation  2023 — All rights reserved* 
 
ARSO Central Secretariat  
International House 3rd Floor  
P. O. Box 57363 — 00200 City Square  
NAIROBI, KENYA  
 
Tel. +254 -20-2224561, +254 -20-3311641, +254 -20-3311608  
 
E-mail: arso@arso -oran.org  
Web: www.arso -oran.org  
  
 
* © 2023 ARSO — All rights of exploitation reserved worldwide for African Member States’ NSBs.  DARS 1844 :2023  
iv © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved   
Copyright notice  
 
This ARSO document is copyright -protected by ARSO. While the reproduction of this document 
by participants in the ARSO standards development process is permitted without prior permission 
from ARSO, neither this document nor any extract from it may be repro duced, stored or 
transmitted in any form for any other purpose without prior written permission from ARSO.  
 
Requests for permission to reproduce this document for the purpose of selling it should be 
addressed as shown below or to ARSO’s member body in the country of the requester:  
 
 
© African Organisation for Standardisation 20 23 — All rights reserved  
 
ARSO Central Secretariat  
International House 3rd Floor  
P.O. Box 57363 — 00200 City Square  
NAIROBI, KENYA  
 
Tel: +254 -20-2224561, +254 -20-3311641, +254 -20-3311608  
 
E-mail: arso@arso -oran.org  
Web: www.arso -oran.org  
 
Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement. 
Violators may be p rosecuted.  
 
 
 
  DARS 1844 :2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  v Introduction  
 
Insects offer non – negligible food alternatives. Adopted by many countries in the world and 
particularly in Africa . Insect consumption currently represents relevant  economic choice to foil 
the menace of famine. About 2000 species of insects are regularly  consume in the world , they 
appear as an invaluable source of highly digestible proteins in animal feed due to their genetic 
diversity. The nutritional value of insects for animal feed is mainly based on the high levels of 
crude protein (40 % – 75 %), so called essential fatty acids such as Omega 3 and 6 
unsaturated fatty acids comparable to those found in fish.  
 
In addition to the high proportion of  fibres and their richness in essential amino acids 
(methionine , tryptophan , tyrosine, glutamine etc) supplied by the insect ration provide a 
balance of the intestinal flora and the digestive health of the animal.  
 
The advantage of using insects in animal feed is essentially based on a tactical strategy based 
on their mass production. Their rapid growth, short development cycle, high egg laying and 
food conversion rate (phytomasse  vs zoomasse ) are all factors that reinforce their eligibility  
for breeding, consumption and industrialization. Contrary to conventional production (meat), 
insects need on average  of only 2 grams of food per gram of weight gained, while cow will 
consume four times more. In addition, the meat :  waste ratio provided  by cattle, sheep, goat, 
camel etc . breeding produces a highly neg ative  balance in comparison to the edible parts of 
insects (  100 %) from which no loss will be recorded.  
 
Despite it being a rich source of nutrients to animal feeding, if poorly handle d, it can become 
a hazard not only to animal health but also to human health. Therefore, this standard contains 
the technical requirements on safety (such as heavy metal contaminants and pesticide 
residues) and quality of dried insect products for compounded animal feed.  
 
 
 
 
 
 DARS 1844 :2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  1  
Dried insect products for compounded  animal feeds — Specification  
 
1 Scope  
 
This African  Standard specifies the requirements, sampling,  and test methods for dried insect 
products as sources of protein for compounded animal feeds.  
 
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 amendment) applies.  
 
ARS 56, Prepackaged foods — Labelling  
 
ARS 53, General principles of food hygiene — Code of practice  
 
CAC / RCP 1 , General principles of food hygiene  
 
ISO 4832 , Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
coliforms — Colony -count technique  
 
ISO 4833 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — horizontal method for the enumeration of microorganisms 
— part 1: colony count at 30 °c by the pour plate technique  
  
ISO 5498, Agricultural food products — determination of crude fibre content — general method  
 
ISO 5983 -1, Animal feeding stuffs — determination of nitrogen content and calculation of crude protein 
content — part 1: Kjeldahl method  
  
ISO 5984, Animal feeding stuffs — determination of crude ash  
  
ISO 5985, Animal feeding stuffs — determination of ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid  
  
ISO 6490 -1, Animal feeding stuffs — determination of calcium content — part 1: titrimetric method  
 
ISO 6491, Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of phosphorus content — Spectrometric method  
 
ISO 6495, Animal feeding stuffs — determination of water -soluble chlorides content — part 1: titrimetric 
method  
 
ISO 6496 , Animal feeding stuffs — determination of moisture and other volatile matter content  
 
ISO 6497, Animal feeding stuffs — sampling  
 
ISO 6579 -1, Microbiology of the food chain — Horizontal method for the detection, enumeration and 
serotyping of salmonella — part 1: detection of salmonella spp.  
 
ISO 11085, Cereals -based products and animal feeding stuffs — determination of crude fat and total 
fat content by the randall extraction method  
  
ISO 16649 -2, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — horizontal method for the enumeration 
of beta -glucuronidase -positive escherichia coli — part 2: colony -count technique at 44 degrees c using 
5-bromo4 -chloro -3-indolyl beta -d-glucuronide  
  
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  
AFRICAN STANDARD  DARS 1844 :2023  
2 © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved   
ISO 17375, Animal feeding stuffs — determination of aflatoxin B1  
 
ISO 27085 , Animal feeding stuffs — Determination of calcium, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, 
potassium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, cobalt, molybdenum, arsenic, lead and cadmium by ICP -
AES 
 
 
3 Terms and definitions  
 
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.  
 
3.1  
insect products for compounded animal feeds  
adult, nymphal, larval or pupal stages of edible insects in the form of dried whole insect,  
extruded,  ground or pellet for use as an animal feed ingredient  
 
3.2 
whole edible insects  
edible insect product s presented in their natural form after primary processing to minimize 
microbiological contamination and moisture  
 
3.3 
ground edible insect product s  
edible insect product s presented as meal, pellets or crumbs after primary processing to 
minimize microbiological contamination and moisture  
 
3.4 
defatted edible insect product s 
edible insect product s presented as whole insect or ground insect product that has undergone 
additional processing to remove a portion of the fat content  
 
3.5  
extruded edible insect product s 
insect product s presented as whole insect or ground insect product that has undergone 
additional processing using an extruder  
 
 
4 General requirements  
 
Dried insect products for compounded animal feeds shall be free from:  
 
a) adulterants, extraneous material and objectionable odour;  
b) infestation and contamination from pests; and  
c) moulds and fungi   
 
 
4.1 Ingredients  
 
4.1.1 Dried edible insect products for compounded animal feeds shall be produced from   edible 
species . 
 
4.1.2 The product may contain optional ingredients to improve the palatability and when used they 
shall be suitable for animal feeding and comply with relevant standards . 
 DARS 1844 :2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  3  
4.2 Presentation of dried insect product s for compounded animal feed  
 
Dried edible insect product for compounded animal feeds may be presented in the form of:  
 
a) whole edible insects;  
b) ground edible insect product s;  
c) defatted edible insect products; and  
d) extruded edible insect product s 
 
 
4.3 Specific requirements  
 
Dried insect products for compounded animal feeds shall comply with specific requirements prescribed 
in Table 1, when tested in accordance with the test methods provided therein.  
 
Table 1 - Specific requirements for dried insect products  
S/N Parameters   Whole, ground 
or extruded  Defatted  Test method  
i.  Moisture content (%) , max. 12 12 ISO 6496  
ii.  Crude protein (% DM), min  30 30 ISO 5983 -1 
iii.  Crude Fat (%, DM), max. 40 12 ISO 11085  
iv.    Crude Fiber (%DM), max . 12 15 ISO 5498  
v.  Total ash  (% DM), max  15 20 ISO 5984  
vi.  Acid insoluble ash (%DM), max . 4 4 ISO 5985  
vii.  Calcium  (%DM), min . 3 3 ISO 6490 -1 
viii.  Phosphorous, (%DM), min . 0,6 0,6 ISO 6491  
ix.  Sodium Chloride, (%DM), max . 2 2 ISO 6495  
 
 
 
5 Hygiene  
 
Dried insect products for compounded animal feeds shall be prepared in accordance with 
provisions specified in  CAC RCP  1  
 
 
 
6 Microbiological limits  
 
Dried insect products shall not exceed microbiological limits as shown in Table 2 when tested in 
accordance with test methods specified therein.  
 
 
Table 2 - Microbial limits for dried insect products  
S/N Microorganism  Maximum limit s Test method  
I.  Total Viable Count, cfu/g  105 
  ISO 4833 -1  
II.  Total coliform count cfu/g  500  ISO 4832  
III.  Escherichia coli cfu/g  10  ISO 16649 -2 DARS 1844 :2023  
4 © ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  IV.  Salmonella spp  in 25 g  Absent   ISO 6579 -1 
 
 
 
7 Contaminants  
 
7.1 Heavy metals  
 
Dried edible insect products for compounded animal feeds shall comply with the maximum limits of 
heavy metals as specified in Table 3 when tested in accordance with the test methods specified therein.  
 
 
Table 3 - Heavy metal limits in dried edible insect products  
S/N Metal contaminants  Maximum limit s  
mg/kg  Test method  
i Arsenic  0,1  
 ISO 27085  ii Lead  0,5 
iii Cadmium  0,4 
iv Mercury  0,1  
 
 
7.2 Aflatoxins  
 
Dried edible insect products for compounded animal feeds shall comply with the maximum aflatoxin 
limits as specified in Table 3 when tested in accordance with the test methods specified therein.  
 
Table 4 - Aflatoxin limits in dried edible insect products  
Contaminant  Maximum  limits 
ppb Test method  
Total aflatoxin  10 ISO 16050  
Aflatoxin B1  5 ISO 17375  
 
 
 
 
7.3 Pesticides and antibiotics  
 
Pesticide and antibiotic residues in dried edible insect products for compounded animal feeds shall 
comply with the maximum pesticide and antibiotic residue limits established by the Codex Alimentarius 
Commission.  
 
 
8 Packaging  
 
8.1 Dried insect products shall be packaged in  clean , food grade packaging  materials which are 
strong and sufficiently sealed so as to withstand reasonable handling without tearing, bursting or falling 
open during normal handling and transportation.  
 
8.2  The containers shall be free from parasites and any disease -causing  agents.  
 
8.3  Containers for insect products shall be clean and free from visible indications of contamination.   
 
 
9 Labelling  
 DARS 1844 :2023  
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved  5 In addition to the requirements in ARS 56, each package shall be legibly and indelibly marked with the 
following information;  
 
a) name of product “Dried edible insect products for compounded animal feeds”  
b) presentation form of insect product;  
c) net weight of the product;  
d) the species and life stage of insect used;  
e) batch number;  
f) name and address including physical addresses of the manufacturer;  
g) country of origin,  
h) date of manufacture and expiry date;  
i) declaration of crude protein (%), crude fat (%), Crude fibre (%), Calcium and  
Phosphorus (%)  
j) instructions for  use, handling and  storage   
 
 
10 Sampling  
 
Sampling shall be done in accordance with ISO  6497 . 
 
 
 
 DARS 1844 :2023 
© ARSO 2023 — All rights reserved    