In a defining moment for AOAC, the inaugural meeting of a new program for Organizational Affiliates (OAs), “Setting Performance Requirements for New and Modern Methods,” underscored with absolute clarity the importance of the Association’s work in safeguarding Americans—from food safety to homeland security--and the urgent need to move this critical work forward. Recognizing that AOAC can add value to their businesses, 23 companies, 16 of which are AOAC OAs, sponsored the kick-off meeting on June 25-26, 2009, in Rockville, Maryland, USA. AOAC gathered leading experts from government, academia, industry, and other appropriate organizations to provide its partners (food companies, contract research organizations, instrument manufacturers, and test kit companies) insight on emerging issues, regulations, and early intelligence on priority areas for new and modern analytical methods.

“Collaboratively, we can set a direction on how to get ahead in food safety,” said James Bradford, AOAC executive director and CEO. “Industry needs consensus-based standard method performance requirements, conformity assessment of methods against the standard performance requirements, and globally recognized, defensible methods. Regulators can give us a good perspective on the main food safety issues, new requirements, and priority areas of method needs. There are opportunities for AOAC’s partners who can play a major role in meeting these needs. We’re all working toward the same goal and this meeting can help us get there.”

Organized by Krystyna McIver, AOAC senior director of communications, the highly topic-specific meeting was planned around current and funded AOAC analytical communities in different stages of the standards development process: dietary supplements, biothreat detection, produce, seafood, infant formula, and fertilizers. Attendees played an important role by having a voice in setting priority area method needs and the future direction of analytical methodology for these communities.

Setting the stage for the two-day event was a strong plenary session featuring speakers from government and industry who provided worldwide regulatory perspectives, analytical testing and methods needs, and emerging issues and legislation impacting those companies involved in food safety. Speakers included David Acheson, associate commissioner for foods, FDA; Robert Brackett, senior vice president and chief science and regulatory officer, Grocery Manufacturers Association; Frankie Trull, president, Policy Directions, Inc.; Ana Hooper, vice president Total Quality, Darden Restaurants Inc.; Wolf Maier, Counselor, Food Safety, Health, Consumer Affairs, European Union; and Wang Da-ning, Deputy Chief Administrator, Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China.

Following the plenary session, AOAC facilitated concurrent sessions to provide insight on new and modern methods related to dietary supplements, threat agents, seafood, produce, infant formula, and fertilizers. Enormous opportunities exist for AOAC and its OAs from the food industry, contract research organizations, instrument manufacturers, and test kit companies.

The success of the kick-off meeting shows that stakeholders want to know more about the issues and that the work of the Association continues to be relevant to the analytical communities it serves. AOAC and its members and customers can play a key role in establishing consensus-based methods performance requirements, conformity assessment, and validating new and modern methods in the areas of seafood, produce, infant formula, and more. Much opportunity exists, and as Bradford assured attendees in June: “We’ll be there.”

AOAC thanks the following supporters of the inaugural meeting, “Setting Performance Requirements for New and Modern Methods”: Abbott Nutrition, Agilent Technologies, Applied Biosystems, Applied Food Technologies, CEM, Coca-Cola, Compound Solutions, Darden Restaurants, Department of Homeland Security, DuPont Qualicon, Fonterra Cooperative Group, Mead Johnson Nutritionals, Nestlé Research Center, PepsiCo, Petroleum Analyzer Co. (PAC), Qiagen, R-Biopharm, Inc., Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, Sysco, The Fertilizer Institute, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waters Corp., and Wyeth Nutrition.

Full coverage of the inaugural meeting, “Setting Performance Requirements for New and Modern Methods,” is scheduled for the July/August issue of Inside Laboratory Management.

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