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J. W. DEVRIES, Technical Manager, General Mills, Inc., Medallion Laboratories Division, 9000 Plymouth Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55427

Following acceptance of a consensus definition for dietary fiber in the United States in the early 1980s, methodology was validated and adopted for the purposes of providing accurate and valid information to be used as part of nutrition labels and to be placed in databases. The methods thus accepted as Official Methods of Analyses provided for quantitation of those food components which met the dietary fiber definition with a few exceptions. In 1998-1999, the American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) appointed an expert scientific committee to undertake a review of the current definition of dietary fiber and recommend an updated version, if appropriate. The expert scientific committee determined that the current definition, while adequate, did not reflect the current state of knowledge of the science of dietary fiber, and that the methods currently being used as the de facto definition for dietary fiber were not necessarily including certain food components (namely polyfructoses and compounds engineered to be analogous to dietary fiber in structure and function). Therefore the scientific committee recommended the definition be updated and the commensurate methodology, where needed, be adapted and validated. The updated definition, adopted by the AACC in 1999, clearly includes these food components. Analytical methodology commensurate with the updated definition must be employed to insure inclusion of all dietary fiber in the food sample. Relatively few food labels or databases will need to be modified initially, although modifications may be required in the future as more ingredients become available to food technologists seeking to increase the dietary fiber content of products and the diet. Method status and requirements will be discussed.