Jana Hildreth, Synutra Pure’s director of technology and scientific affairs and a leading expert in chondroitin testing, updated the Pacific Southwest Section of AOAC International on official method development for chondroitin testing at its annual meeting in Monteray, CA. The event took place February 18-19th, 2015.
 
The chief endeavor of AOAC is the development of globally accepted standards, done by utilizing “stakeholder panels” to develop consensus-based method performance requirements, and volunteer expert review panels to evaluate potential methods based on the community’s specific method needs. AOAC’s status as an independent third party, the immense experience of its members, and volunteer leadership all contribute to the credibility, defensibility, and acceptability of standards and methods developed. 
 
Much of the program focused on Food Safety, emphasizing in particular authentication, adulteration and contamination.The Authentication and Adulteration Session at which Ms. Hildreth presented updated attendees on the Stakeholder Panel on Dietary Supplements, formed under the collaborative agreement between NIH and AOAC International to develop new, validated analytical methods for dietary supplement ingredients and products.  
 
Dr. Joseph M. Betz, director of the Dietary Supplement Methods and Reference Materials Program at NIH  presented an overview on the NIH-AOAC Dietary Supplements Collaboration. Other speakers and topics included Jana Hildreth of Synutra Pure for the Working Group on Chondroitin; Anthocyanins by Aniko Solyom, GAAS Corporation; PDE5 Inhibitors by James Neal-Kababick, director, Flora Research Laboratories; and Paula Brown of the British Colombia Institute of Technology on the “Next Four Ingredients.”
 
Jana Hildreth served as one of the AOAC’s Subject Matter Experts in Dietary Supplements and is also a member of the USP’s Adulteration Expert Panel (ADSDDA) and the chair of the AOAC working group on Chondroitin. Ms. Hildreth’s group was appointed the task of developing Standard Method Performance Requirements (SMPRs) for a total Chondroitin/Quantitative Assay for raw materials and finished products and a screening method for detecting adulterants in raw materials and finished products.