Searching for a certified or accredited college or university for most disciplines is largely a matter of finding a school accredited by a recognized agency. Culinary institutes are a bit different. Because many culinary schools today are associated with or a part of a larger university system, they may be accredited by the licensing agency that approves the school as a whole as an institution issuing bachelor or associate degrees.
However, this type of general accreditation doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the particular division of the culinary institute within that university meets the highest standards for fine chefs and restaurant managers in the United States and around the world. The reason is obvious: no agency focusing on standard educational disciplines fully understands what is essential to a fine culinary learning experience. For that very reason, the American Culinary Federation developed its own accrediting system years ago. This accreditation is given specifically to culinary institutes to designate that they have met or exceeded the additional standards of the ACF for providing a high quality learning experience.
How Accreditation...