As a standards development organization known for its work over the past 140 years in agricultural, food, dietary supplement and related fields, AOAC is an independent, 501(c)(3), non-profit membership association of analytical science professionals representing government, industry, and academia worldwide. AOAC’s credibility is derived from leveraging the expertise of its international pool of volunteer subject matter experts to address analytical challenges with reliable, fit for purpose, characterized and validated published methods.
As the understanding of the types of fiber and dietary carbohydrates has expanded and changed over the past 40 years from both a scientific as well as a regulatory standpoint, many analytical methods have been developed and validated to keep pace. Specifically in the dietary fiber realm, a large body of analytical methods that detect differing types of fiber have been developed over the past 40 years. What is detected by each method is not always clear nor are the historical titles of the methods aligned with the current definitions. Applying this variety of methods to matrices is not straight forward nor simple. Attempts have been made to provide insight and guidance, but there remains a need to clarify.
To address the need for updated definitions and alignment of the current fiber methods within the Official Methods of Analysis, AOAC will convene an Advisory Panel of organizations including private companies as well as non-profit scientific organizations. The AP will then determine the priorities and scoping for a technical Working Group. The Working Group will be comprised of volunteers as well as appointed scientific advisors who are experts in this field. The output of the Working Group will be guidance documents or recommendations for implementation that may include a decision tree for selecting methods, advice for key matrix types, input on when single methods versus multiple methods are needed, as well as potential changes to the composition of the Official Methods of Analysis fiber methods or the title and scope of these methods. All of this work will be done to align the analytical methods with the current definitions in use now by Codex.
Beyond fiber, there are method gaps and challenges in the analysis of dietary carbohydrates which will also be addressed by this program as prioritized by the Advisory Panel.
AOAC INTERNATIONAL is seeking financial support to launch the Fiber & Dietary Carbohydrates Program, which will be guided by an Advisory Panel comprised of funding organizations from government, NGO, industry and academia to determine priorities and working group objectives. This panel will meet quarterly to review progress and consider additional objectives.
AOAC INTERNATIONAL is asking organizations to join this important program with an annual contribution of $10,000. Other levels of contributions will be considered as well. Funding will support the following for each workstream:
Advisory Panel Member Benefits
