To become a Certified member of the society, the candidate must complete an approved seven year apprenticeship period as stipulated by our by-laws (see below) and then pass a review by the membership. Apprentice members must complete an approved five year apprenticeship period with a review.

An application for membership into the Society of Flavor Chemists is now available for download as a PDF document.

You can download the membership application here.

We’re currently working on an online application that can be completed and submitted from within our website.

The following documents are also available to non-members for online viewing:

The Society of Flavor Chemists By-Laws

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THE SYLLABUS

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Under the new Society of Flavor Chemist guidelines, the following protocols for membership will commence immediately:

1. A written test will be administered. It will consist of 25-30 questions, filling in the blanks or one-or-two sentence answers. All questions will come from the SFC syllabus.

2. Members applying for certification will be allowed no more than 10% wrong answers. Apprentice applicants will be allowed no more than 20% wrong answers.

3. Candidates will then be interviewed by the Membership Committee: Apprentice candidates must exhibit a sufficient knowledge of raw materials, compounding techniques, flavor formulation/production procedures, and flavor applications to be able to progress to an independent mode of creativity; Certified candidates must exhibit working knowledge of the flavor industry, namely raw materials, laboratory procedures, production processes, legal/regulatory considerations, and the economics involved in the creation, production and utilization of flavors.

4. Sufficient time will be allowed for both the testing and interview process.

5. The Membership Committee will review the test and interview results, and their recommendation will be presented to the membership for a vote at the business meeting following the candidate’s interview.

6. The by-laws for membership have not changed, therefore sponsorship, years of training, etc. remain the same.

For the sake of fairness, no single aspect of the protocol will have more significance than the other. The expectation on the written portion is that candidates not exceed the allotted wrong answers.

The committee is aware that people test differently (written vs. verbal), and the committee will ensure each candidate is treated fairly and equally. The committee’s position is not to deny any qualified candidate into the society, but to ensure that the highest standards are kept to ensure the continuing professionalism of the organization.