What does AOAC stand for? When newcomers first encounter AOAC, that’s one of their first questions. AOAC’s name once clearly reflected its mission; but all organizations evolve, and AOAC has been evolving for an unusually long time.
AOAC INTERNATIONAL was established in 1884 as the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. Later, the Association of Official Analytical Chemists name was adopted to better reflect additional safety interest areas. Today, the organization’s legal name is AOAC INTERNATIONAL, to reflect the global nature of its impact.
In late 2019, the question of what the acronym should “mean” returned as a focus as AOAC’s Board, staff and management were developing a new organizational strategy with updated mission, vision and goals language. The refreshed strategy was approved on December 10, and after in-depth discussions of a variety of options, a final decision on a new long format name and tag line followed. You will begin seeing these both in our future communications. Here’s what “AOAC” stands for in today’s analytical science landscape:
