Representatives from the regulatory bodies, research institutes and industry are presenting the most pressing questions on how to deal with environmental pollutants, process contaminants, artificial intelligence and big data as well as other "hot topics". We inform you reliably about all regulatory developments and scientific findings of the last few months, e.g. on PFAS, mineral oil, BPX and perchlorate.
Contaminants and residues in food are strictly regulated within the European Union. The risk management and toxicological assessment of contaminants and residues, essential to produce compliant products, pose challenges across the entire food industry.
The conference brings together representatives from regulatory and industry backgrounds, as well as political decision-makers to discuss the latest regulatory developments. It keeps track of scientific progress, advances in food analysis and recent developments in risk assessment.
Would you prefer to follow this conference digitally via our Live Stream? Then you can find further information here.
Early Bird Bookings – 10% discount valid until 12 September 2025 with discount code: CONTA10
Current situation in Europe and the USA
Food contaminants
Process contaminants
Artificial intelligence and big data
Other hot topics
Professionals working in the fields of:
Sectors taking part:
Picture Credit: © Visual Generation – iStock
Timings are in Central European Time CET.
Dieter Schrenk, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany
Richard Stadler, Nestlé Research, Switzerland
Frans Verstraete, European Commission, Belgium (invited)
Inga Hennies, H. & J. Brüggen, Germany
Bas van der Velden, Wageningen Food Safety Research (WFSR), The Netherlands
Sina Röhrs, SGS Germany, Germany
Marina Nikolić, Nestlé Research, Switzerland
Veerle Vanheusden, European Commission, Belgium (invited)
Frans Verstraete, European Commission, Belgium (invited)
Roland Perz, State Institute for Chemical and Veterinary Control (CVUA) Stuttgart, Germany
Xanthippe Theurillat, Nestlé Research, Switzerland
Sara C. Cunha, University of Porto, Portugal
Shaun MacMahon, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), USA (virtually)
After the first conference day you are most welcome to attend our evening event for an unhurried evening of good food and leisure time. Please join us to continue the day’s interesting discussions in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.
Timings are in Central European Time CET.
Dieter Schrenk, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany
Richard Stadler, Nestlé Research, Switzerland
Angela Mally, University of Würzburg, Germany
Michael Hellwig, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Alexandre Panchaud, Nestlé Research, Switzerland
Elena Rovesti, European Food Safet Authority (EFSA), Italy
Kata Héjjas, Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE), Belgium
Valérie Fessard, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), France
Thomas Bessaire, Nestlé Research, Switzerland
Name
Company
Thomas Bessaire
Nestlé Research, Switzerland
Thomas Bessaire is a Chemist and an Analytical Specialist in Chemical Contaminants at Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne. He supports Nestlé businesses by providing analytical methods and scientific expertise for chemical contaminants analysis in foods. He is a member of the European CEN Panel Experts on Biotoxins, and joined several working groups at AOAC International.
morelessSara C. Cunha
University of Porto, Portugal
Sara C. Cunha, Ph.D. in Nutrition and Food Chemistry from the University of Porto, Portugal, is a Principal Research Scientist at LAQV-REQUIMTE. An expert in water, food, and environmental contaminants, she has developed innovative chromatographic techniques for detecting mycotoxins (patulin, tricothecenes, ochratoxin A, aflatoxins, ennantins), pesticide residues, industrial processing contaminants (acrylamide, biogenic amines, 4-methylimidazole), migrant packing contaminants (bisphenols, phthalates), and environmental contaminants (UV-filters, triclosan, PAHs, pharmaceutical residues, musks, brominated flame retardants, perfluorinated compounds). Her research also includes studying bioaccessibility, bioavailability, endocrine disruption, the impacts of climate change, and microplastics on environmental health. She has published over 195 articles in peer-reviewed journals (H-index 51) and contributed to 16 book chapters. She has extensive experience leading European projects (e.g., group leader, HORIZON CisWEFE-NEX, H2020 SEAFOODtomorrow, FP7 ECsafeSEAFOOD, Interreg Spain-Portugal FoodSens) and National projects (e.g. PI of CleanH2O, EDCs-Seafood).
morelessValérie Fessard
French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), France
Michael Hellwig
Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Michael Hellwig studied Food Chemistry between 1999 and 2004 at Technische Universität Dresden (Germany) and obtained his PhD in 2011. In his post-doc time, he worked on the microbial metabolization of glycated amino acids. In 2016, he became PI in Dresden and intensified his studies on the chemistry of protein oxidation. From 2020-2022, he was a professor of Food Chemistry at Technische Universität Braunschweig (Germany), before he returned to Dresden in 2022 as a professor of Special Food Chemistry.
morelessInga Hennies
H. & J. Brüggen, Germany
Inga Hennies, PhD, is an Ecotrophologist and joined the Quality Assurance Unit at H. & J. Brüggen KG in 2009. Since 2012 she has been the Head of Quality Internal Processes and became Transformation Manager in 2023. She is also a member of the Getreidenährmittelausschuss of AGF (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Getreideforschung).
morelessKata Héjjas
Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE), Belgium
Kata Héjjas is a Food Engineer with over 5 years of experience in the food industry. She joined Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE) in 2022 as a Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Manager and is responsible for food safety, food additives and slimming and sport foods working groups.
morelessShaun MacMahon
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), USA
Shaun MacMahon is currently the Acting Director for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Human Foods Program (HFP) Office of Scientific Coordination and Computational Sciences and has served in several different roles as a laboratory analyst and in leadership since joining the FDA in 2003. He is active in FDA’s Method Development, Validation, and Implementation Program, HFP’s Closer to Zero efforts, as well as the Laboratory Flexible Funding Model (LFFM), a cooperative agreement with 55 state human and animal food testing laboratories in 40 states in support of an integrated food safety system in the U.S.
morelessAngela Mally
University of Würzburg, Germany
Angela Mally is a Professor of Toxicology at the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Würzburg in Germany. Her research focuses on understanding molecular mechanisms of disease related to toxic/carcinogenic chemicals and natural food contaminants (e.g. the ochratoxin A, furan) as a basis for risk assessment. As a member of the DFG Standing Senate Commission on the Health Evaluation of Food (SKLM) and the Commission on Contaminants in the Food Chain at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Angela Mally acts in an advisory capacity and also contributes her toxicological expertise to various international working groups (e.g. ILSI Europe, EFSA). She serves as editor-in-chief of the international scientific journal Toxicology Letters.
morelessMarina Nikolić
Nestlé Research, Switzerland
Alexandre Panchaud
Nestlé Research, Switzerland
Alexandre Panchaud is currently the Head of the Institute for Food Safety & Analytical Science at Nestlé Research in Lausanne. Alexandre has 20 years of experience in the food industry and has held several R&D and quality management positions within Nestlé.
morelessRoland Perz
State Institute for Chemical and Veterinary Control (CVUA) Stuttgart, Germany
Elena Rovesti
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Italy
Sina Röhrs
SGS Germany, Germany
Sina Röhrs studied Medical Nutritional Sciences and Nutritional Medicine at the University of Lübeck and is currently pursuing her doctorate at TU Berlin in the field of \"Predictive Risk Assessment of Food Using AI-Based Data Models.\" Additionally, she has been working for about three years as a Sales Consultant in the Health and Nutrition sector at SGS Germany in Hamburg, Germany.
morelessDieter Schrenk
University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany
Dieter Schrenk has been a Professor for Food Chemistry and Environmental Toxicology at the University of Kaiserslautern since 1996. In 2005 he took on the full professorship for Food Chemistry and Toxicology. He joined the EFSA CONTAM Panel in 2003 where he was the Chair from 2018 to 2024.
morelessRichard Stadler
Nestlé Research, Switzerland
Richard Stadler has been the Head of the Institute for Food Safety & Analytical Science at Nestlé in Lausanne from 2017 to 2024. Previously, he held several research and quality management positions within Nestlé. He was also the Chairman of the FoodDrinkEurope contaminants expert group. Since 2024 he has been working as a Scientific Advisor at Nestlé Research.
morelessXanthippe Theurillat
Nestlé Research, Switzerland
Xanthippe Theurillat is an Analytical Chemist and a specialist in the Analytical Science Department in the field of food contaminants at Nestlé Research in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2012, she joined the Regional Swiss Official Food Control Laboratory in Lausanne as a scientific expert in the contaminants section. Since 2015, she is working at the Nestlé Research in Lausanne with a specific focus on the method development in the domain of contaminants, like pesticides, emerging and process contaminants and lately PFAS. Moreover, she participated in projects for the mechanistic understanding of process contaminants which allowed to publish subsequently patent applications.
morelessBas van der Velden
Wageningen Food Safety Research, The Netherlands
Bas van der Velden leads the Data Science team at Wageningen Food Safety Research. With over 10 years of hands-on experience in machine learning and deep learning, he specialises in explainable AI (XAI), making complex models more transparent for high-stakes domains like food safety. He holds a PhD in Medical Imaging from Utrecht University and an MSc in Medical Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology. Bas has worked at leading institutions, including UC Berkeley and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He currently oversees a team of 20+ AI and data science experts focused on food safety.
morelessWe have reserved a limited number of rooms for our participants at reduced rates at the hotel. These rooms can be booked up to 4 weeks prior to the start of the event. Please book early and directly through the hotel quoting „Akademie Fresenius“ as reference.
Participation Fee: € 1,995.00 plus VAT.
The registration fee includes the following benefits:
Representatives of an authority or a public university are therefore eligible for a reduced fee of € 895.00 plus VAT per person (please provide evidence). The reduced fee cannot be combined with other rebates.
Group Reductions
For joint bookings received from one company we grant a 15% discount from the third participant onwards.
Terms of Cancellation / Book without Risk
Written cancellations or transfers will be accepted free of charge up to four weeks prior to the start of the event. After this date and up to a week prior to the start of the event we will reimburse 50% of the registration fee. We cannot, unfortunately, provide refunds for later cancellations. However, in this case we will provide you with the event documentation after the event.
Please note that you can name a substitute free of charge at any time.
Would you have liked to attend this event, but cannot spare the time?
For the price of 295,00 € plus VAT you can order a complete set of event documentation. A few days after the event you will receive the access data for the restricted download section of our Website. There you will find all presentations (subject to the approval of our speakers) as pdf-files.
Sabine Mummenbrauer
Programme and conceptual design
+49 231 75896-82
smummenbrauer@akademie-fresenius.de
Sabine Mummenbrauer
Programme and conceptual design
+49 231 75896-82
smummenbrauer@akademie-fresenius.de
Sabine Mummenbrauer
Programme and conceptual design
+49 231 75896-82
smummenbrauer@akademie-fresenius.de
Alexandra Schardt
Organisation and participant management
+49 231 75896-74
aschardt@akademie-fresenius.de
Alexandra Schardt
Organisation and participant management
+49 231 75896-74
aschardt@akademie-fresenius.de
Present your Company at the Event.
You can personally present your products and services directly to your specified target group. We are happy to provide you with further information on our range of available options – from displaying company information at the reception counter to presenting your company with an exhibition stand.
We would be pleased to assist you personally:
Monika Stratmann
Phone: +49 231 75896-48
info@akademie-fresenius.de
We offer journalists and editors a platform where they can get in touch with the experts.
If you are the editor of a specialist publication and interested in a press pass or media partnership, please contact us well in advance. We are happy to advise you.
Please contact us:
Katharina Geraridis
Phone: +49 231 75896-67
presse@akademie-fresenius.de
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