Brand new for this year, the event will take place across a series of three online events with each one having a regional focus - Europe, Asia and USA.
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Event Focusing on Europe 🗓️ Thursday 21 May 2026 |
Event Focusing on Asia 🗓️ Friday 26 June 2026 |
Event Focusing on USA 🗓️ Taking place in Q4 with exact date to be confirmed |
About Global Food Contact Europe
This event aims to provide a comprehensive overview of key regulatory and compliance developments affecting global food contact materials.
It will cover the latest EU regulatory updates, including insights into the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), alongside a broader global regulatory outlook.
The programme will address emerging legislation on inks, evolving restrictions on substances such as PFAS and BPA, and practical approaches to demonstrating compliance.
In addition, discussions will explore NIAS testing and risk assessment methodologies, as well as specific considerations for materials in food contact applications, offering participants a well-rounded understanding of current challenges and expectations across the food contact supply chain.
Sigrid is Head of Group Product Safety & Quality at MM Group, a global producer and converter of cartonboard and paper. She is an expert in the regulatory requirements for food contact materials and the Chair of the Food Contact Legislation Issue Group at the Confederation of European Paper Industries (Cepi). This group supports the further development of the regulatory framework regarding paper and board food contact materials and articles at EU level in a key role.
Sigrid has a PhD in chemistry from the Vienna University of Technology and has nearly 20 years' experience in regulatory and quality management at various food and pharmaceutical packaging companies.
Dr. Srinivas Alapati is a senior toxicologist with 23 years of experience in product safety and risk assessments of FCM’s, cosmetics, and personal care products. He holds a doctoral degree in Nanotoxicology (Ph.D) and Masters in Biochemistry from University of Madras, Chennai, India. He has held significant roles in major companies, including serving as the Senior Toxicologist at Reckitt, India and as Senior Manager of Food Safety & Toxicology at Siegwerk. Currently, he is working as a Toxicologist at Flint Group. His expertise encompasses global packaging regulations and toxicological evaluations.
Dr Bernard Hegarty is Director of Enforcement Policy with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. He is responsible for management of the official food control activities of the inspectorates and laboratories in their enforcement of food law, including the national inspection and sampling programmes for food contact materials. He provides technical expertise into initiatives by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland to increase compliance with legislation on food contact materials. He represented Ireland at the European Commission Working Group on Food Contact Materials, which develops the harmonised European legislation, from 2000 to 2009. He co-chaired the Council working group that developed Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004. He chaired the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on materials intended for contact with food from 2006 to 2007. He has a BSc and a PhD in Chemistry and an MA in Public Management.
Ales Bartl advises clients on regulatory compliance of a broad range of products marketed in the EU. Ales primarily
focuses on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), the Classification, Labelling, and
Packaging (CLP) regulation, Biocidal Products Regulation, Fertilizer Regulation, food law, regulation of electronic products, and product safety.
Ales represents clients in the European Courts and in procedures before the Board of Appeal of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). He also represents clients in various proceedings before the ECHA and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), as well as before EU and national competent authorities on compliance and enforcement issues, including withdrawals and recalls of unsafe or non-compliant products.
Prior to joining Keller and Heckman, Ales interned at the European Commission and worked for almost ten years as an EU regulatory associate at two international law firms in Brussels.
Ms. Maxwell, Research Fellow in Corporate Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. brings expertise in global finished foods labeling and claims as well as additives and flavors. Prior to Ocean Spray, she led the Scientific and Regulatory Affairs management function at Nestle USA responsible for all the retail/food service brands for North America. Her employment history includes Director-level global regulatory compliance group management at Cargill, Inc., Wild Flavors, Inc. as well as McCormick & Company and Givaudan where she describes her role as managing, motivating, coordinating and influencing multi-disciplinary functions to accomplish strategic business goals, anticipating regulatory obstacles/emerging issues throughout product lifecycle and developing solutions with other technical/commercial teams across global geographies (essentially herding cats!).
Ms. Maxwell is a proud graduate of University of Illinois – Champaign/Urbana with BS degree in Food Science and additional post graduate study in Carbohydrate Chemistry.
Always lively and engaging, Ms. Maxwell turns conventional wisdom on its ear using comprehensive data that offers a compelling look at new regulatory trends. Her insights are drawn in part from Washington DC colleagues, as well as her global network “cabinet” of industry professionals and the occasional bureaucrat.
Xiaolu Wang is a Senior Research Manager at AgencyIQ’s Chemicals division. Xiaolu is a licensed attorney in New York state, the District of Columbia, and China (inactive) with over 10 years of experience in environmental, health, and safety (EHS) legislation and product regulatory compliance.
Before joining AgencyIQ, Xiaolu conducted in-depth research and analysis of EHS and product safety legislation on a global scale, focusing on North America and Asia Pacific. She also led regulatory consulting projects covering a wide range of products, including chemicals, food contact materials, cosmetics, food, and electronic and electrical equipment.
Scientific and Regulatory Affairs | Mars Wrigley | Europe and Central Eurasia.
Jeremy Hooper leads the Scientific and Regulatory Affairs team for Northern & Southern Europe at Mars Wrigley. Over the past 2.5 years, he has overseen scientific and regulatory affairs activity for food contact materials and food contaminants across the Europe region.
Jeremy's expertise in food contact safety and quality dates to 2011 when he moved into food & non-food packaging at Tesco. He later worked at Domino Printing on FCM regulatory compliance and at Loop (TerraCycle), where he developed processes and facilities for the safe reuse of food and consumer packaging.
Before moving into the food packaging sector, Jeremy spent 17 years working in food quality, safety, and product development with Campbell Soups and Tesco, in the UK and international businesses. He is an active member of the Food Contact Material (FCM) committees for FoodDrinkEurope and the UK Food and Drink Federation (FDF), where he is engaged with evolving EU and UK regulations on packaging safety and substances of concern.
In July 2021 Carlos de la Cruz Garcia took the role of Regulatory and Compliance Manager at the Nestlé System Technology Center in Switzerland, dealing with the compliance by design of new Nestlé Systems (e.g. beverage machines and packaging/capsules). In 2014 he became Head of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs for Nespresso at its HQ in Switzerland, dealing with the compliance of the food and non-food product portfolio. He joined the Nestlé Research Centre in Switzerland in 2003, starting in the Research area, moving into different positions with increased responsibility for quality and safety of food contact materials (Nestlé Nutrition HQ, Nestlé Product Technology Center for Coffee, Nestlé System Technology Center).
A licentiate in Pharmacy, with a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and Nutrition, Carlos has been involved in the safety evaluation of food contact materials since 2000, working with universities and research centers in Spain, France and USA.
Alistair is a subject matter expert in the Food Contact Safety Team at Smithers. This involves advising clients on the safety legislation which applies to food packaging in a wide range of different countries throughout the world and coordinating work programmes to ensure that clients' products meet these requirements.
His expertise spans all the EU countries, USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Israel, Russia and South America.
