Food Allergens

Representatives from the industry, the authorities as well as from the medical and scientific fields are presenting the most pressing questions on food allergens at this conference. These include how to deal with clinical aspects and consumer safety, regulatory aspects and scientific matters, as well as industry practice and analytical approaches.

Guaranteed realization
03.12. — 04.12.2024
Leonardo Royal Hotel Köln - Am Stadtwald
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Overview

The FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Allergens from 2020 to 2023 was tasked by Codex and proposed a comprehensive overhaul of the way allergens are managed globally. Starting with a review of the criteria for priority allergens and the current list, it identified Reference Doses for those allergens, guided by a clear and transparent food safety objective and following a defined scientific analysis. The Consultation then addressed the application of those Reference Doses in the management of allergens, with an emphasis on Precautionary Allergen Labelling, but also considering how they could help the definition of exemptions from allergen labelling.

The conference brings together representatives from regulatory and industry backgrounds, as well as political decision-makers to discuss about the FAO/WHO Initiative on food allergen risk assessment and the main conclusions and implications of the Expert Consultation’s work. It keeps track of clinical aspects, advances in food analysis and their suitability as well as on recent developments in risk assessment, risk management and risk communication.

Another hot topic at the moment is the new use of existing proteins and existing proteins being processed in new ways and moreover, we are looking at emerging allergens from a number of perspectives.

Highlights

Food allergy – clinical aspects

  • Update on immunotherapy in food allergy

Food industry allergen risk assessment approaches

  • Practical application of allergen quantitative risk assessment (QRA)
  • Improving information for allergen risk management, including decisions on precautionary labelling

Competent authority/consumer perspective on risk assessment

  • Opinions on food allergens issued by the Scientific Committee established at the Belgian FASFC
  • Food allergens and the supervision of the new legal rules in the Netherlands

FAO/WHO initiative on food allergen risk assessment

  • An overview of the FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens and key outcomes
  • Too high, too low? Setting a reference dose that works.

Risk management and communication

  • Risk management and communication of food allergens – the perspective of a governmental agency
  • Risk communication with consumers in Ireland
  • VITAL® 4.0 in relation to the FAO/WHO recommendations

Monitoring, analytical methods and their suitability

  • Standardisation of a reference prototype-MS based method for multi allergen quantification in foods as a result of the ThRAll project
  • Allergen detection possibilities for the official food control laboratories
  • Monitoring the Safe Introduction of Novel Foods (MoSIN) – how food allergy develops in a changing food environment

Who should attend this conference?

Professionals working in the fields of:

  • Quality assurance & control
  • Analysis
  • Legal & regulatory affairs
  • Research & development
  • Diagnosis & therapy

Sectors taking part:

  • Food industry
  • Food retailers
  • Food inspection offices
  • Laboratories
  • Research institutes
  • Authorities
  • Professional associations
  • Medical institutes

Picture Credit: © incomible – istock

 

Programme

Tuesday, 3 December 2024


Morning Session | 10:00 – 13:45 CET
09:30
Registration and coffee
10:00
Welcoming speech by the organisers and the Chair

Bert Pöpping, FOCOS, Germany and Food Orbit, Portugal

Food allergy – clinical aspects
10:15
Update on immunotherapy in food allergy

Kirsten Beyer, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

Food industry allergen risk assessment approaches
10:45
Practical application of allergen quantitative risk assessment (QRA)
  • Applying QRA proactively and reactively
  • Integrating QRA into existing food safety management programs

Simon Flanagan, Mondelēz Europe, UK

11:15
Coffee break
11:45
Improving information for allergen risk management, including decisions on precautionary labelling

Neil Buck, General Mills, Switzerland

Competent authority/consumer perspective on risk assessment
12:15
Opinions on food allergens issued by the Scientific Committee established at the FASFC

Philippe Delahaut, Scientific Committee at the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC), Belgium

12:45
Food allergens and the supervision of the new legal rules

Jan Eliëns, The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), The Netherlands

13:15
A patient organisation/consumer perspective

Liljia Polo-Richards, Allergy Companions, UK

13:45
Lunch break


Afternoon Session | 14:45 – 17:45 CET
Food allergy – clinical aspects
14:45
Recent Food Standards Agency funded research, with a focus on methodological challenges

Mindy Dulai, Food Standards Agency (FSA), UK

FAO/WHO initiative on food allergen risk assessment
15:15
An overview of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens and key outcomes

Kang Zhou, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Italy

15:45
Coffee break
16:15
Too high, too low? Setting a reference dose that works

Paul J. Turner, Imperial College London, UK

16:45
To adopt or not to adopt the FAO/WHO reference doses and PAL – that is the question: A European patchwork of thresholds and action values?

A round-table discussion, with views from around Europe

Risk management and communication
17:15
Food allergen declaration in Ireland, communicating the regulatory requirements to all stakeholders

Patrick O’Mahony, Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), Ireland

17:45
End of the first conference day
18:30
Joint evening event

After the end of the first conference day you are most welcome to attend our evening event for an unhurried evening of good food and leisure time.



Wednesday, 4 December 2024


Morning Session | 08:30 – 12:30 CET
08:30
Short address by the Chair

Bert Pöpping, FOCOS, Germany and Food Orbit, Portugal

08:40
VITAL® 4.0 and the application of FAO/WHO recommendations

Jasmine Lacis-Lee, Allergen Bureau, Australia (virtual presentation)

09.10
Update on risk management and communication of food allergens – the perspective of a governmental agency
  • Managing allergenic risks, e.g. by assisting the Swedish government, by giving guidance to the food control and the food sector and by giving information and advice to allergic consumers and the health care
  • Some current measures due to allergenic risks, e.g. unintended allergen presence and cross-reactivity to edible insects

Ylva Sjögren Bolin, Swedish Food Agency, Sweden

Monitoring, analytical methods and their suitability
09:40
Allergen detection possibilities for the official food control laboratories
  • Assessment of analytical results – action values
  • Molecular biological (PCR) techniques – which method for which application area

Hans-Ulrich Waiblinger, State Institute for Chemical and Veterinary Analysis of Food (CVUA) Freiburg, Germany

10:10
Coffee break
10:40
Outcomes of the EFSA ThRAll-project: Development and standardisation of a LC-MS/MS method for multiallergen quantification in complex food

Linda Monaci, Institute of Sciences of Food Production – National Research Council of Italy (ISPA-CNR), Italy

11:10
Strategies for food allergens quantification by mass spectrometry

Maxime Gavage, CER Groupe, Belgium

11:40
Monitoring the Safe Introduction of Novel Foods (MoSIN) – how food allergy develops in a changing food environment
  • From animal- to plant-based food including new uses of existing proteins and existing proteins being processed in new ways

Kitty Verhoeckx, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

12:10
Summary of conference outcome
12:30
Lunch and end of the conference

Speakers

Name

Company

Beyer

Kirsten Beyer

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

Kirsten Beyer is a Professor and the Leader of the Paediatric Allergology Study Center in the Department of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine, Immunology and Critical Care Medicine of the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. She qualified as an MD at the Freie Universität Berlin in 1991. She carried out her pediatric training and fellowship at the Humboldt University in Berlin. From 1996-1997 she became a visiting scientist at the Division of Allergy & Clinical Immunology at Johns Hopkins, University in Baltimore, USA. From 1997-2003 Kirsten Beyer worked at the Division of Pediatric Allergy & Immunology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, where she was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in 2001. In 2003 she returned to Berlin where she was appointed Professor at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Kirsten Beyer’s research experience spans the spectrum of pediatric allergies with a particular focus on food allergies. Her interests include food allergy prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. She is a principal investigator in several national and international studies. The results of her research have been published in over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

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Buck

Neil Buck

General Mills, Switzerland

Neil Buck has spent more than 20 years within industry, and is the Corporate Toxicologist for General Mills, Inc where he provides regulatory toxicology support to the global organisation. His time is split between innovation, technical regulatory affairs, and product safety. He is active in various stakeholder fora in both the US and EU on topics relevant to continuously improving consumer protection, including Food Drink Europe, the US Consumer Goods Association, ILSI Europe and the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences.

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Philippe Delahaut

Scientific Committee at the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC), Belgium

Philippe Delahaut is a Veterinarian and joined CER Groupe from 1977-2015 as the Head of the Health Department. Since 2021 he has been the Vice-Chair of the Scientific Committee at the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC), Belgium.

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Dulai

Mindy Dulai

Food Standards Agency (FSA), UK

Mindy Dulai is a chemist and joined the Food Standards Agency as Head of Risk Assessment in 2023. Prior to this she led the scientific advisory function at the Office for Product Safety and Standards; the UK’s regulator for consumer products. The earlier part of her career was spent working for the Royal Society of Chemistry on a range of roles, including in relation to UK chemicals policy. She has worked on the development and communication of risk assessment across different products sectors both inside and outside of government.

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Eliëns

L.J.M. (Jan) Eliëns

The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), The Netherlands

Jan Eliëns is a Senior Inspector Expertise Industry at the NVWA, the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority. He has worked at the NVWA for over 33 years. Jan specialises in the supervision of allergens, labelling and the use of food improvements agents (additives, flavorings and enzymes).

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Simon Flanagan

Mondelēz Europe, UK

Simon Flanagan is a Research Fellow & Global Lead for Food Allergy & Food Allergens at Mondelēz Europe. After 17 years with RSSL's Food Safety Division he joined Mondele͂z Europe in 2019 and is part of the Global Food Safety team. He is an internationally acclaimed Technical Consultant specialising in the field of food allergens. Simon is biochemist by training who has worked in numerous of sectors of the food industry before joining RSSL in 2002. Simon is affiliated with numerous professional bodies, industry groups and technical committees (ILSI Europe, FDF, BRC, EFSA, FSA) and has published several articles in peer reviewed journals and a reference book including the Handbook of Food Allergen Detection and Control.

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Gavage

Maxime Gavage

CER Groupe, Belgium

Maxime Gavage is a Chemical Engineer and joined CER Groupe in 2015 where he undertook his PhD research project in collaboration with the University of Namur. He’s now an R&D Project Manager with a particular focus on the protein world, especially through mass spectrometry-based proteomics, immunoassay development, and protein functionalization via conjugation.

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Lacis-Lee

Jasmine Lacis-Lee

Allergen Bureau, Australia

Jasmine Lacis-Lee is a specialist in food safety management and risk mitigation within the Australian food manufacturing industry. Jasmine has a Bachelor of Science, with more than 25 years’ experience working in the food & beverage industries. She is the Chair and President of the Allergen Bureau and appointed Board Director since 2018. Jasmine joined BVAQ in 2015 and in her role regularly consults both nationally and internationally with a variety of organisations to improve, manage or mitigate risks. In 2019 she was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian region of EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering Design Group). Jasmine holds committee positions on the AIFST Scientific and Advisory committee, NATA Life Sciences Accreditation Advisory Committee and is the only Australian representative on the AOAC Food Allergen Working Group.

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Monaci

Linda Monaci

Institute of Sciences of Food Production - National Research Council of Italy (ISPA- CNR), Italy

Linda Monaci is research director and is leader of the Mass Spectrometry/Proteomics Unit at CNR-ISPA in Bari (Italy), with 25 years’ experience in the field of safety and quality of food products. Her focus spanning from food contaminants including food allergens, food authenticity, mycotoxins, and more recently her research activity is also addressed to the nutrition and functional foods. She is co-author of 120 sicnetific peer-reviewed papers, has led several national and international projects in the field food safety and quality and is currently member of several scientific comittees and advisory boards in the field of food safety, food allergen analysis and food allergy.

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O'Mahony

Patrick O'Mahony

Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), Ireland

Patrick O‘Mahony is the Chief Specialist in Food Science & Technology at the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. His regulatory responsibilities include coordinating the implementation of food allergen labelling/declaration in Ireland in accordance with EU and Irish legislation. He is a member of the FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on risk assessment of food allergens and was responsible for formulating the request from Ireland that resulted in the 2014 EFSA Opinion on an evaluation of the existing food allergens for labelling purposes.

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Polo-Richards

Liljia Polo-Richards

Allergy Companions, UK

Liljia is the Founder and Director of Allergy Companions Limited, a review platform established in 2021 to support individuals with food allergies and dietary restrictions. Inspired to create this resource after an upsetting dining experience with her son, who has a severe nut allergy, Liljia has made it her mission to enhance safety and inclusivity in the hospitality industry. Today, Liljia collaborates with hospitality businesses, offering consulting services aimed at improving their service to allergic customers and ensuring compliance with safety standards.

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Popping

Bert Popping

FOCOS, Germany and Food Orbit, Portugal

Bert Popping is the Managing Director of the strategic food consulting company FOCOS in Germany and Co-Founder and Senior Scientific Expert of the regulatory and compliance company Food Orbit in Portugal. He has more than 25 years of experience in food safety and strategic advice for companies in the food supply chain. He is one of the experts on the joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens. Bert has published more than 75 publications on food allergens, food fraud, food safety and food regulations. He also serves as an expert on the US Pharmacopeia Food Chemical Codex group dealing with food ingredients.

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Sjögren Bolin

Ylva Sjögren Bolin

Swedish Food Agency, Sweden

Ylva Sjögren Bolin is an Immunologist and a Nutritionist and has been at the Science Department at the Swedish Food Agency in Sweden since 2009. She has worked with analysis of food allergens and risk assessment but now she mainly works with risk management and risk communication.

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Turner

Paul J. Turner

Imperial College London, UK

Paul J. Turner is a Reader/Clinician Scientist and Honorary Consultant at Imperial College London, and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, Australia. His research, funded by the Medical Research Council, European Commission and UK Food Standards Agency among others, focusses on the pathophysiology of severe allergic reactions to food. He was a member of the UK Food Standards Agency's Science Council, the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization Codex Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens, and leads the EAACI Taskforce on Food Allergen Thresholds.

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Verhoeckx

Kitty Verhoeckx

Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Kitty Verhoeckx is an Analytical Chemist and an Assistant Professor at the Dermatology and Allergology Department of the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU) in the Netherlands. In 1991 she started her career at TNO, where she had various research positions and was involved in various research topics, systems biology, bioactive lipids, etc. In 2005 she gained her PhD degree at the University of Leiden. Since 2011, Kitty Verhoeckx is involved in food allergy projects. She was a management committee member of the COST Action INFOGEST, participated in the ILSI Europe task force ‘Allergenicity and processing’, ILSI Europe FA Expert Group “Allergenicity’’, the EFSA Focus group on allergenicity assessment, and EFSA focus groups on food allergy and digestion. She was the Chair of the COST Action ImpARAS. Currently, she is management committee member of COMFA and she coordinates the Dutch project MoSIN.

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Waiblinger

Hans-Ulrich Waiblinger

State Institute for Chemical and Veterinary Analysis of Food (CVUA) Freiburg, Germany

Hans-Ulrich Waiblinger is Head of Department at the State Institute for Chemical and Veterinary Analysis of Food (CVUA) Freiburg in Germany and works in the official food control. His fields of work include the control of genetic modifications and allergens as well as molecular-biological species differentiation.

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Zhou

Kang Zhou

Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Italy

Kang Zhou is a Food Safety Officer at Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He is one of the secretariats for Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) and ad hoc expert meetings to provide risk assessment and scientific advice to Codex Alimentarius, to support the development of international guidelines and standards, and also transfer the technology to member countries for capacity development.

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Venue

Leonardo Royal Hotel Köln - Am Stadtwald
Dürener Straße 287
50935 Köln
Phone : +49 221 4676-0
Email: info.koelnstadtwald@leonardo-hotels.com
https://www.leonardo-hotels.de/leonardo-royal-hotel-koeln-am-stadtwald

We 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.

Prices & Services

Participation Fee: € 1,995.00 plus VAT.

The registration fee includes the following benefits:

  • Event participation
  • Event documentation
  • Lunch
  • Coffee breaks and event beverages
  • The evening event on the first day
  • Certificate of attendance

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.

Event Documentation

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.

Order documentation

Sabine Mummenbrauer

Your Contact

Sabine Mummenbrauer
Programme and conceptual design

+49 231 75896-82
smummenbrauer@akademie-fresenius.de

Sabine Mummenbrauer

Your Contact

Sabine Mummenbrauer
Programme and conceptual design

+49 231 75896-82
smummenbrauer@akademie-fresenius.de

Sabine Mummenbrauer

Your Contact

Sabine Mummenbrauer
Programme and conceptual design

+49 231 75896-82
smummenbrauer@akademie-fresenius.de

Danielle Sörries

Your Contact

Danielle Sörries
Organisation and participant management

+49 231 75896-74
dsoerries@akademie-fresenius.de

Danielle Sörries

Your Contact

Danielle Sörries
Organisation and participant management

+49 231 75896-74
dsoerries@akademie-fresenius.de

Additional Dates for this Event:

03.12. — 04.12.2024,  Live Stream

Display / Supplement

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

Monika Stratmann
Phone: +49 231 75896-48
info@akademie-fresenius.de

Press Contact

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

Katharina Geraridis
Phone: +49 231 75896-67
presse@akademie-fresenius.de

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