2.1 ISO Cocoa Standards
ISO 2451 defines the terms used and the grade standards used to classify cocoa beans. The grade standards are based on the cut test which allows certain gross flavour defects to be identified.
These standards, as issued by the International Standards Office (ISO), form the basis of the cocoa quality assessment regulations of several cocoa producing countries.
ISO 2451 “Cocoa beans – Specification”, originally issued in 1973, was revised in 2014, and again in 2017 to bring it into line with current commercial practices. It references two other ISO standards which have now been withdrawn: ISO 1114 Cocoa beans – Cut Test and ISO 2291 Determination of moisture content (routine method).
ISO 2292 Sampling was also revised in 2017 and this revision related to clarification of bean size specifications.
Current versions of the Standards are available for purchase from the ISO website https://www.iso.org/iso/ which also provides further details on the process by which the Standards are developed.
The standard specifies that cocoa beans shall be
- Fermented, then dried until their moisture content no longer exceeds 7.5% mass fraction
- Free from any evidence of adulteration
- Virtually free from living insects and other infestation
- Free from odour contamination
- Virtually free from any foreign matter
- Reasonably free from broken beans, fragments and pieces of shell
- Within the standard for violet or purple beans, typical of the specified grade or origin
- Reasonably uniform in size, fit for production of a foodstuff
- Reasonably free from bean clusters, flat beans, germinated beans, residue and sievings
The Grade Standards lay down the following maximum limits for producing country internal classification for fermented beans:
| Mouldy | Slaty | Insect damaged, germinated or flat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade I | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| Grade II | 4% [1] | 8% [1] | 6% [1] |
ISO 2451 now also specifies bean size standards, defined by the bean count and usually expressed by the number of beans per 100g (see Appendix A for further details).
The specifications are currently:
- Large beans
Bean count of less or equal to 100 - Medium beans
Bean count of 101 to 120 - Small beans
Bean count greater than 120
