AOAC International

AOAC International is a not-for-profit scientific association headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD. It sets standard methods that allow people to have confidence in analytical results obtained from scientific analysis. Many organisations, such as government bodies, require companies that carry out scientific testing for them to use AOAC accredited methods.

History
The AOAC is 121 years old. It started out as as the "Association of Official Agricultural Chemists" set up by the United States Department of Agriculture, who wanted a set of uniform methods to be used for the analysis of fertilisers. In the 1950s, food legislation mandated the need for new methods, which increased the AOAC's scope beyond agriculture. As a result, the name was changed to the "Association of Official Analytical Chemists" in 1965. In 1991, the name was changed to "AOAC International" to reflect the importance of international trade and its role as an international organisation. Currently, AOAC stands for the "Association of Analytical Communities".