AOAC Continues to Seek Financial Support for Its Newly Proposed Programs and Projects

The following programs are still seeking financial support. If you are interested in being involved in determining the priorities and driving the development of criteria for any of these programs, please contact Alicia Meiklejohn.  For more details on any of these programs please visit https://www.aoac.org/scientific-solutions/new-initiatives/.

• Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids are produced by an estimated 6,000 plant species (about 3% of the worlds flowering plants), those with certain structural features are known to be hepatoxic and genotoxic carcinogens. The European Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/2040 recently adopted new maximum levels in teas, herbal infusions, herbs, seed spices, and botanical dietary supplements, which has created an imminent need for the development of SMPR(s)^© for the 35 relevant pyrrolizidine alkaloid compounds.
• BDSIP The 2021 market for botanicals and dietary supplements according to consumer sales was $48.5B in the US and $151.98B globally. The botanicals and dietary supplement integrity program is a multi-year initiative aimed to address newly emerging analytical needs due to this surge and expansion of product offerings.
• Color Additives from Natural Sources Current US regulation only requires synthetic color additives to be tested by the FDA and undergo the FDA certification process. However, with recent consumer demand for “natural” colors there is an analytical need to adopt standards and develop Official Methods of Analysis for microbial contaminants, residual solvents, pesticide residues, and heavy metal contaminants in naturally derived color additives.
• PFAS There are over 4,700 different PFAS in existence, these are bio-accumulative and have been deemed “forever” chemicals, currently there are only limited-in-scope, single-laboratory methods employed by the FDA (20 detectable PFAS compounds) and FSIS (16 detectable PFAS compounds). Therefore, there is a need for international method performance standards and Official Methods of Analysis for the detection and quantification of PFAS, especially in processed and packaged foods, and raw animal feeds, in order to limit consumer exposure.