How to Become a TTB-Certified Chemist

The following information comes from the U. S. Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, better known as TTB. TTB is the principal national regulator of beverage alcohol. This may be of interest if you are a producer and wish to sell your products outside the United States.
_______________

Many foreign governments require a laboratory report of chemical analyses of exported wine, distilled spirits, and beer before the products enter their countries. Many importing countries require government laboratories of the exporting countries to perform these chemical analyses or certify that the analyses were performed.

We, at the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) administer a program where chemists, enologists, and technicians in qualified U.S. laboratories in the private sector are certified to carry out these analyses for export purposes. TTB's Chemist Certification Program offers exporters of alcohol beverages the flexibility to perform specific analyses of their products either on-site or through a third-party TTB-certified qualified laboratory. This program ensures that chemists, enologists, and technicians are trained and can generate quality data for alcohol beverages. By using a TTB-certified chemist to do analysis, some exporters get the laboratory analysis completed more quickly thereby getting their product exported sooner.

Twice a year we share the list of certified chemists and qualified laboratories with foreign governments. We have recently updated this list.

Our Beverage Alcohol Laboratory at the TTB National Laboratory Center offers the Chemist Certification Program twice annually (spring and fall cycles). To participate in the program, applicants need to meet specific educational requirements, and must be able to analyze accurately the beverage alcohol samples (e.g., beer, distilled spirits) we send them. We will certify the applicant if a TTB chemist validates the applicant's report of analysis and the applicant meets all other requirements for certification. This certification is free of charge and is valid for two years; during this time, a TTB-certified chemist is authorized to perform specific tests and to generate reports of analysis to accompany alcohol beverage export shipments.

The Chemist Certification Program facilitates export of U.S. alcohol beverage products by allowing exporters to use a TTB-certified chemist to rapidly and efficiently perform required chemical analyses for the export market.

For more information about the program, or to view a list of TTB-certified chemists, please visit our Chemist Certification Program Information page.