Residues of PFAS in Food, Packaging and the Environment

Klaus Abraham is a Senior Toxicologist at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). He is head of the unit \"Nutritional Risks and Biomarkers\". The group's research focuses on studies in humans with regard to kinetics, internal exposure and toxicology.

Frauke Averbeck is a scientific officer working at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) in Division 5, the Federal Office for Chemicals (BfC), which is the German Competent Authority for REACH, CLP and Biocides. Her main tasks encompass the overarching coordination of the German national activities in regulatory risk management under REACH. In the context of the current work on the PFAS restriction dossier she also coordinates the joint work of the authorities of the cooperating Member States (Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway).

Nawel Bemrah is a senior project manager in the Risk Assessment Department of the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (Anses). She mainly works in the field of dietary exposure and risk assessment linked to additives and chemical contaminants in foods, providing scientific support to the scientific expert committees of Anses, as well as ensuring scientific coordination of working groups (Nitrates/Nitrites, PFAS).

Alexander Eckhardt is a Biologist and regulatory scientist at the German Environment Agency (UBA) in Bad Elster/Germany in the division “Toxicology of Drinking Water and Swimming Pool Water”. Since 2015 he has been a specialist toxicologist of the DGPT and European Registered Toxicologist. As a member of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Water Quality and Health (WQTAG), he is involved in updating the Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality. He is also a member of the Working Group Toxicology of PFAS of the German Drinking Water Commission.

Nicola Forrer is a chemical engineer and director of the Cantonal Laboratory in Ticino (Switzerland), which does intensive work on the analysis and assessment of contaminants in food and water samples. He has been actively involved in nationwide monitoring campaigns on PFAS in fish, meat, and eggs coordinated by the Swiss Association of Cantonal Chemists (ACCS).

Thomas Gude is Managing Director of Thomas Gude GmbH, which specialises in consulting in the areas of food contact materials, food and non-food. After about 30 years with authorities, the pharmaceutical and chemical industries and a long time as the operational manager of a Swiss laboratory, he now deals with risk assessments, especially in the food contact and consumer goods sector. In addition, he teaches at various universities and technical colleges, in particular at ETH Zurich.

Ron Hoogenboom is the Assistant Programme Leader Food Contaminants at Wageningen Food Safety Research, dealing with environmental contaminants, pesticides and toxins from moulds, algae and plants. Since 2012 he has been a member of the EFSA CONTAM Panel and was the vice-chair of the WG on PFAS.

Deepak Kapoor studied Chemical Engineering with specialization in Polymer Science and Masters in Business Administration. He has overall 23 years of industry experience in Business and Strategy roles. Currently, Deepak is working with Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited – one of the leading Fluoropolymers & Chemicals producers globally. He is leading company's global strategy for fluoropolymers, advocacy and government affairs. He is also the Managing Director of company’s subsidiary located in Germany.

Aurélie Mathieu-Huart is a Deputy Head at ANSES (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety), specializing in toxicology and risk assessment. She has contributed to the development of health reference values for various substances.

François Pouzaud is a Scientific Project Manager at ANSES (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety), specializing in toxicology and risk assessment. He has contributed to international evaluations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including the IARC Monographs on PFOA and PFOS. His recent work focuses on developing long-term toxicological reference values (TRVs) for various PFAS compounds, addressing data gaps and advancing methodologies for cumulative risk assessment.

Max Schneider studied environmental chemistry and is currently working as a Project Manager in the FCM (Food Contact Materials Team) team at PTS – Institut für Fasern & Papier in Heidenau, Germany. For the last ten years he took care of the GC laboratory in Heidenau, dealt with customers’ requests of all kind as well as working on different research projects in the field of food contact materials.

Thomas Simat has been a Professor and the Chair of Food Science and FCM at the Technische Universität Dresden with research on FCM since 2003. He is the Chairman of the ‘German BfR Committee on Consumer Products’’.

Veerle Vanheusden is a Policy Officer in DG SANTE of the European Commission. She joined the European Commission in 2013, where she worked for four years in the Unit “Pesticides and Biocides”. In 2017 she moved to the Unit dealing with food processing technologies and novel foods, where her main area of activity is the EU policy and legislation on contaminants. She has previously worked in the private pharmaceutical sector.