The Official Methods of AnalysisSM (OMA) program is AOAC INTERNATIONAL's premier methods program. The program evaluates chemistry, microbiology, and molecular biology methods. It also evaluates traditional benchtop methods, instrumental methods, and proprietary, commercial, and/or alternative methods. In 2011, AOAC augmented the Official MethodsSM program by including an approach to First Action Official MethodsSM status that relies on gathering the experts to develop voluntary consensus standards, followed by collective expert judgment of methods using the adopted standards.
The OMA program has undergone a series of transitions in support of AOAC's collaborations, evolving technology, and evolving technical requirements. Methods approved in this program have undergone rigorous scientific and systematic scrutiny such that analytical results by methods in the Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC INTERNATIONAL are deemed to be highly credible and defensible.