AOAC’s Analytical Solutions Forum (ASF) is a mechanism for global stakeholders from government, industry and academia to identify emerging needs for scientific analysis of food and other related products and to propose actions to address them. It also identifies emerging technologies that can be adapted through standards development and certifications for use in supporting them.
The ASF is a meeting place to exchange issues, ideas, opportunities, and views. Stakeholders with diverse perspectives and backgrounds share technological advances, discuss knowledge gaps, and lay the foundation for collaboration among the applied analytical science community.
The ASF has rapidly become the cornerstone of the AOAC Midyear and Annual Meetings. The goal of the ASF during the Midyear Meeting is to introduce and triage new ideas. Under the advisement of the ASF Steering Committee, one to three topics are then further developed and presented at the Annual Meeting for potential adoption as AOAC projects or programs.
As an “idea incubator,” the ASF is also a starting point for many new programs, SMPRs development, calls for methods, and validation of methods. Proposals provided to the ASF Steering Committee through continuous outreach to our broad spectrum of stakeholder communities—in addition to those discussed during the Midyear and Annual Meetings—represent another avenue for program development.
The Analytical Solutions Forum provides for greater stakeholder engagement and communication among scientists, regulators, researchers, and AOAC’s science leadership. Such expanded integration and cross-fertilization of ideas and needs among participants from diverse communities and areas of expertise will stimulate rapid and impactful analytical solutions to the most pressing food, feed, and environmental needs.
The ASF evolved from work done by AOAC through the Stakeholder Panel on Strategic Food Analytical Methods (SPSFAM) and the International Stakeholder’s Panel on Alternative Methods (ISPAM).
Scientists interested in working on the ASF are encouraged to contact
Deborah McKenzie, Senior Director, Standards and Official Methods, at AOAC, at [email protected] or by phone at (301) 924-7077 x157.