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AOAC Implements Alternative Pathway to First Action Status To link members’ expertise and passion to AOAC’s brand, the AOAC Board of Directors on March 28, 2011, approved an alternative path to an Official First Action Method. The alternative approach places an expanded and high-level responsibility on expert review panels (ERPs). ERPs select candidate methods for further validation as a standard practice, but they now will have the authority, for the first time, to approve methods deemed satisfactory as AOAC First Action Official MethodsSM. ERPs established by stakeholder panels (which are managed by AOAC Headquarters) and whose members are vetted by the Official Methods Board (OMB), will evaluate methods against Standard Method Performance Requirements (SMPRs) established by those stakeholder panels with their collective expertise. This pathway will establish high value for AOAC First Action Official Methods by building consensus around scientific rigor. Further, this pathway places greater value on the “Final Action” designation. The new approach enables routine use of the adopted method in analytical labs and locations, thus adding more rigor from First to Final Action status. ERPs will monitor the method’s performance for 2 years, after which the method could be recommended to OMB as Final Action. This alternative pathway does not supplant the traditional collaborative study process for methods that have not been selected by stakeholder panels, but rather offers AOAC the ability to apply our members’ expertise to creating value. For more information, contact Alicia Meiklejohn, AOAC executive office, at ameiklejohn@aoac.org. Full coverage appears in the May/June 2011 issue of Inside Laboratory Management.
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