CHAMPAIGN, ILL. — The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) announced Nov. 6 it’s Sugars Expert Review Panel on sugars and fructans has been chosen by the AOAC International (Association of Official Agricultural Chemists) as the Expert Review Panel of the Year.

The Expert Review Panel of the Year award was presented during AOAC’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in September.

AAFCO developed two official analytical methods — one for a sugars profile and the other for fructans — at the end of 2018, both of which are currently pending Final Action Status by AOAC.

Background

Due to the request from industry to label feeds for carbohydrates, AAFCO dedicated a working group of industry professionals, regulators, nutritionists, academics and government officials in the mid-2000s that established three carbohydrate fractions could be used to be descriptive of nutrition needs of all species of animals with respect to carbohydrate content of feeds . These include starch, fructans, and mono- and di-saccharides, also known as sugars.

Following this research, AAFCO’s Laboratory Methods & Services Committee (LMSC) established “method needs statements” in 2008 and began developing the methods for analyzing the three carbohydrate fractions.

The first analytical method focused on starch and was adopted as AOAC’s Official Method in 2014. It received Final Action Status from AOAC in 2018.

The second method on sugars was more difficult to develop, and in 2017 AAFCO helped to fund AOAC’s Working Group on Sugars. This group developed the Standard Method Performance Requirements (SMPRs) for both sugars and fructans by the end of 2018.

Finally, AAFCO established the Sugars Expert Review Panel to review the methods for sugars and fructans. This panel included 11 global experts, seven from the United States and the remaining four from New Zealand, India, Italy and the Netherlands.

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