Svetlana Epifanova has been working as a Senior Packaging Specifications Manager within Danone since 2017. Within her role in the Specialized Nutrition department, she is responsible for the validation of food contact materials on regulatory compliance and food safety, assuring that infants, young children and patients receive the safest packaging possible. Another part of this role, is the negotiation on quality agreements with packaging suppliers, that requires both external as internal cross-functional collaboration with her colleagues in USA, Mercosur, China, Asia and European countries.
Dr. Elena Emelianova has extensive experience on regulatory assessment and compliance of food contact materials and chemical products used in food processing by working as a scientific evaluator of the Federal Ministry of Health in Canada. She received her Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry, and has a scientific background in analytical, environmental and polymer chemistry. Prior to joining Health Canada, Dr. Emelianova was a professor at the St. Petersburg Technological University and a Fulbright visiting professor at the George Washington University (GWU), USA. She had an experience by working as a Chemical Management Plan coordinator between directorates of Health Canada, and as chemistry evaluator of pesticides at the Pest Management Regulatory Agency. Dr. Emelianova speaks regularly at international conferences on related regulatory topics. Dr. Elena Emelianova also has considerable experience on counseling clients on Canada’s Food and Drug Act and Regulations, regulatory requirements and compliance relating to chemical substances, polymers and incidental food additives used in food processing in Canada and other jurisdictions, including the U.S., the European Union and other countries.
Jenny is the Vice President of Sustainability at Trivium Packaging and a seasoned global leader with experience from big brands like Shell and Avery Dennison. As a Dutch national, sustainability is in her DNA and her true passion. She believes sustainability is no longer a choice, but an imperative for the success of any company. At Trivium she is committed to positively impacting the lives of millions of people through the company’s sustainable and circular product offerings.
Mr. Bosma is Dutch, has a background in (organic) chemistry and has a long term experience in regulatory affairs at different companies.
Mr. Bosma is the chairman of the PlasticsEurope Food Contact Expert working group and the Polyolefin working group.
In that role he represents PlasticsEurope at the European Commission and the Dutch Authorities.
As a PlasticsEurope representative he also participates value chain initiatives such as the Plastics Coordination Group (an alliance of the different associations in the plastic value chain) and the Cross Sector group for Regulatory Approaches for Food Contact Materials (FCM) and -Additives (an alliance of plastic and non-plastic representatives of the value chain to provide comments on EFSA opinions and to identify the impact on existing regulations & framework for new regulations for the non-harmonised FCMs)
Mr. Bosma is a frequent speaker at international conferences on food contact.
Ms. GuiQin SHANG graduated from Xiamen University with a master's degree in analytical chemistry in 2007. She has engaged in food contact material safety for 14 years, and mainly involved in chemical analysis, safety assessment, legislative promotion, and industry practice of food contact material. She has been serving as an expert in various organizations, such as National Food Safety Standards Evaluation Committee of Food Related products, the Technical Committee for Standardization of Plastic Articles (SAC/TC397/SC6), Paper Articles (SAC /TC141/SC3) and metals Articles (SAC/TC397/SC5). To date, she has edited and published The Practical Guide on the Quality Control, Inspection And Supervision of Food Contact Materials, The Guide to The Evaluation and Declaration of New Varieties of Food Contact Materials, The Safety Evaluation of Food Contact Materials and The Construction of Evaluation Parameters in China, and has participated in the compilation of foreign Laws and regulations on Food Contact Materials.While has participated in drafting 14 National Food Safety Standards for nipple, coatings , rubber, etc., and published more than 20 papers on Food Contact Materials.
Bonnie Zhang graduated from Fudan University as Ph.D, majoring Pharmaceutics. She works in Sealedair as Regulatory Affairs Manager who is responsible for monitoring regulatory update, checking product compliance and executing regulatory advocacy strategy in agreement with regional Food Care and Product Care business stakeholders.
She has more than 10 years regulatory affairs experiences with chemical control laws, food packaging, medical device and fragrances. Before joined Sealed Air, Bonnie Zhang worked in internal companies as Product stewardship and compliance manager where she managed regulatory communication, product compliance check, customer support activities in food packaging industry. She also supported pharma excipient IDL application and medical device certificate related issues.
EDUCATION
• Doctor Degree in Chemistry (macromolecular science), University of Pisa, Italy
• Master Degree in Law, Michigan State University, USA
EXPERIENCE
• Current: Owner and Managing Director of the company Dario Dainelli-Policy & Regulatory Affairs, established in Brussels in 2018
• 2017-2018: Director of Quality & Regulatory Affairs in SITGROUP, Republic of San Marino
• 1999-2017: various management positions in Sealed Air Corporation, including Global Regulatory, and Regulatory Affairs Director for Asia and EMEA
• 1991-1999: W.R. Grace, Laboratory and EU Regulatory manager
Marco has been involving in safety of food contact materials for more than 20 years, which specialized in analysis and assessment of Chemical contaminants in food contact materials. He has been serving as an expert in various organizations, such as the member of Review Committee for National Food Safety Standards, The member of Standardization Committee for plastic food contact material, paper and board, etc. To date, he has published more than 60 papers on food contact materials in journals and academic conferences ,while completed 20 national safety standards and analytical methods. He is currently leading the team to draft Chinese regulations for multilayer articles, wood and bamboo, Paper and paper board, as well as various analytical methods for specific migration. He once participated in a FCMs programs In 2008 as a visiting scientist at JRC of European Commission.
Marco was also appointed as the chairman of Expert committee for FCMs in China food industry association, and the member of Scientific Committee (SC) for the 7th International Food Packaging Symposium organized by ILSI Europe , dedicated to assist government agencies and industry to manage the safety of FCMs with scientific support.
Joined Dow Chemical since 2003 and engaged in product safety and regulatory compliance during last 17 years crossing multiple businesses. Has extensive experience and in regulatory fields of many product such as general chemical, food/food contact etc. and rich knowledge of product risk assessment. Over years, participated many advocacy projects of product regulations-pharmaceutical DMF regulation, cosmetic material management and food contact national standard etc., also played some leadership roles in local industrial associations-Vice Chair of IPEC (China)(2009-2011), Multiple Food Contact Product Taskforce Leaders in AICM (2011-2017) , and vice chair in Food Contact Expert Committee under China National Food Industry Association (2015-2017). Transferred to current role to take accountability of product compliance and safety stewardship for all Dow P&SP portfolios in pan-Asia since 2016.
Eric Gu advises domestic and foreign clients on the requirements and regulations for a variety of consumer products, including foods, food additives, food packaging materials, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, and associated labeling, with a focus on China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and other Asian countries.
Prior to joining Keller and Heckman, Mr. Gu worked as an attorney in law firms in Shanghai and New York and acquired deep understanding of both China and U.S. laws and practice. While attending the University of Wisconsin Law School, Mr. Gu participated in the Thomas Tang National Moot Court Competition and served as an IRS-certified volunteer for assistance in federal individual income tax filing.
JAMES WANG, Deputy General Manager of INCOM RESOURCESRECOVERY(TIANJIN)Co.,Ltd. Continued to promote the in-depth integration and application of "mobile Internet + renewable resources" in China, focused on the rPET food-grade recycling industry for nearly ten years, led the team to take the lead in practicing the demonstration case of rPET used in food packaging in China, and gradually built a closed-loop industry Chain and become a key industry practitioner in the domestic renewable resource utilization industry.
Helene is the Product Stewardship & Regulations Manager at Trivium Packaging, over the past 10 more years, she gained extensive experience in the areas of R&D, Product Stewardship and Regulatory Affairs that are directly related to metal packaging. Helene works every day in the purpose to collect and communicate the best knowledge about food compliance for Trivium Packaging articles.
Kathryn (Katie) Skaggs is an expert in the regulation of food contact materials in a host of jurisdictions including the U.S., EU, South America (particularly the MERCOSUR bloc), Canada, China, eastern Asia, India, the Middle East (GCC), Australia, and New Zealand. Katie assists companies in bringing to market new food contact materials, such as plastics, biopolymers, paper, adhesives, coatings, recycled materials, and components of these materials (antioxidants, colorants, and other additives and processing aids), through submissions to government agencies in the U.S. and abroad. She manages post-market issues for food contact substances, such as recalls and accidental adulterations, and advises on environmental claims for food contact materials, as well as compliance with state laws like California's Proposition 65.
Ms. Xiaolu Wang is a Senior Chemical Regulatory Compliance Consultant with Verisk 3E. Xiaolu has over eight years of experience working in the field of EHS compliance, focusing on regulatory compliance for consumer packaged goods (CPG), including food, food additives, food contact materials, cosmetics, and personal care products. Xiaolu is a frequent speaker at the Global Food Contact Conferences and serves as a member of the Advisory Board.
Xiaolu is a licensed attorney admitted to the bars of the State of New York, District of Columbia, and China. She is a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese and is fluent in English.
Chen Hu provides assistance to foreign and domestic clients in the area of food, food packaging, and chemical control, in matters related to regulatory compliance in in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and other Asian countries.
Mr. Hu works closely with government authorities and trade associations in various phases of regulatory development. Mr. Hu has prepared and submitted hundreds of Chinese applications for registration of food packaging materials, food additives, new food ingredients, and new chemical substances. He is experienced in auditing plant facilities for food and food packaging manufacturers.
Mr. Hu has master degrees in biochemistry and biostatistics
Sylvain Rannou holds a PhD of Polymer Science & Engineering from The University of Manchester, UK.
With over 15 years’ experience in the polymer and food packaging industry, in the UK and in Singapore, his expertise covers a range of functions and skillsets: from packaging development, polymer processing & regulatory compliance, to training & coaching, issue management and networking to leverage expertise.
Having previously worked in R&D for Mars Drinks UK and A*STAR Singapore, he spent 8 years as the Expert in Packaging Safety & Compliance (PS&C) for the Nestlé Quality Assurance Center (NQAC), covering the Asia-Oceania-Africa (AOA) zone. In September 2020, he took on a new position in the Nestlé Dairy business to support the global implementation of the PS&C program for new packaging solutions.
Sabine Lindner a Biologist holding a PhD from Bonn University worked from 1994 to 2007 for the German Vinyl Association.
Since 2007 she is with PlasticsEurope Deutschland where she is responsible for consumer an environmental issues as food contact materials, toys, drinking water contact materials, building and construction products, nanomaterials, PVC and Bioplastics.
Additionally she is facilitator of several working groups at PlasticsEurope and coordinating related activities throughout Europe for: Food Contact Materials, Drinking Water Contact Materials
As a regulatory toxicologist with 12 years experiences, Dr. Zhang helps Chemical and plastic manufactures understand and comply with global food contact and chemical regulations. She has abundant experiences on China food contact petition, China GB standards, and global recycling plastics solutions under US FDA (NOL) and EFSA (scientific statement).
She leads a team of regulatory experts with service scope covering China, Korea and Japan food contact materials and chemical registrations. With analytical testing experiences and regulatory expertise, the team helps industry address challenging regulatory requirements in a timely and cost-effective manner, by developing and successfully executing of test data, and providing expert judgment of waiving statements. Meanwhile, she is with hands on experiences on the registration& notification of (new) chemicals under China MEE Order No. 12 (updated from MEP Order No. 7), Taiwan TCSCA/OSHA, K-REACH/CCA and EU REACH.
Dr. Zhang acquired her Pharmaceutical Doctoral Degree from School of Pharmacy Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. She is now a Member of Council of Chinese Society of Toxicology (CST) and a Committee Member of Professional Committee on Food Toxicology, CST.
Xia has been in the paper industry for over 23 years and took various posts in technical customer service, product management and business development, which covered both graphic paper and specialty papers. Xia has rich experience in product management and business development. Currently he works as Head of Business Development, Packaging Papers, focusing on cocreating sustainable paper solutions with customers and partners together.
Dr. Yan Gu has been a toxicology specialist with Steptoe's Food and Feed Safety, Compliance, and Contact Materials team for more than 3 years. Yan is highly experienced in the safety review and evaluation of toxicological data for food contact materials, other food and color additives, and GRAS. He has assisted clients with food contact material submissions to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and regulatory authorities in China and other countries.
Yan has been a regulatory toxicology reviewer since the implementation of the FDA's Food Contact Notification Program two decades ago. He has worked on Food Contact Notifications (FCNs, over 180), Pre-Notification Consultations (PNCs, near 100), Food Additive Petitions (FAPs), and Color Additive Petitions (CAPs). During his tenure at the FDA, he participated in the development and improvement of the FCN Toxicology Guidance for Industry and the development of the Guidance of Safety Assessment for Infant Food Contact Materials for Industry. As a member of the FDA special task force team on Melamine and Bisphenol A (BPA), he was deeply involved in method development, emergency response, scientific review, and risk assessment. Yan has served as a lead of a special working group to use probabilistic approach to determine an appropriate dietary level for recommending the submission of reproductive/development toxicity testing in FCNs.
Education: MBA in Sustainability & Leadership/BSc in Biology & Chemistry
Working experiences:
20years in Chemical Industry in the areas of Product Safety & Regulatory Affairs, and Safety Health, Environment & Quality Management, Manufacturing and Engineering.
Kristin Price Wiglesworth, Ph.D., provides technical assistance to Keller and Heckman’s attorneys and their clients in determining compliance with state, federal, and international laws and regulations for food packaging materials and other food-contact articles.
Kristin’s expertise in organic chemistry enables her to provide support to clients in their development of technical data underlying submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and comparable international food safety authorities. She has gained unique experience in biopolymers and works with clients to create innovative testing strategies for new bio-based and other food contact materials. Upon completion of the analytical work, Kristin assists clients and external laboratories to evaluate and synthesize complex data sets that support regulatory submissions. Kristin also advises clients on technical assessments of recycling processes and recycled food-contact materials.
Anita Chang completed her Ph.D. in Immunology at State University of New York at Buffalo. Following this, Dr. Chang worked at the Uniformed Service University of Health Sciences as a postdoctoral fellow for two years to investigate gene expression. Afterwards, Dr. Chang worked at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health as a staff fellow for one year, where she developed a monoclonal antibody against carcinoembryonic antigen. Dr. Chang started at the FDA in the Office of Food Additive Safety since 1991. Currently, Dr. Chang serves as a Regulatory Review Scientist in the Division of Food Contact Substances.
Jatin Takkar is a seasoned professional with over a decade of experience in the food and packaging industries. He has worked across different verticals like Operations, Quality & Food safety as well as regulatory with strong market players like Nestle, Kraft Heinz and Siegwerk. He is working with Siegwerk as Head- Product Safety and Regulatory. With his expertise in food safety and his passion for ensuring packaging safety, he is heading a awareness campaign across different stakeholders in the packaging supply chain with the goal of ensuring food safety aspects of the packaging materials materials.
Jatin have been deeply involved with several brand owners and regulatory bodies like FSSAI and BIS for raising the bar on packaging safety in India. He has registered himself as a empanelled trainer for FSSAI on the subject – “Packaging and Labelling” and is an active member of “Alert Panel on Printing Inks” at Bureau of Indian Standards.
Jatin has published over 25 authored articles on the subject of packaging safety. He has even represented as a Food contact Material Expert in various national and International forums presenting his views on subject of Food safety and Packaging Safety.
Jatin lives with the motto – “Ensure safe food for everyone and ensure safe packaging for every food”.
Mrs. Sumalee Tangpitayakul received an Honours Degree in BSc. Food Technology and MSc. Chemical Technology at Chulalongkorn University.
She has over 25 years experience in food contact materials especially in the area of safety testing and method development. Her expertise also includes development of standards and regulations regarding food contact materials at national and regional level. As a result of her continuous effort and contribution ,the packaging laboratory, Department of Science Service
has been designated as the ASEAN Food Reference Laboratory for food contact materials since 2014.
David Ettinger is the chief representative in Keller and Heckman’s Shanghai, China office. Mr. Ettinger counsels multinational companies on the import and export of food and food-related products to ensure compliance with regulations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He also counsels clients on compliance with the laws and regulations in China regarding consumer products and tobacco-related products, such as e-cigarettes. Mr. Ettinger worked in the firm’s Washington, DC and Brussels offices, and is uniquely positioned to counsel foreign companies who need to navigate the regulatory landscape in Asia.
Mr. Ettinger is on the Executive Board and Chair of Mackrell International. He is on the leadership committee of the American Chamber of Commerce Shanghai’s Food, Agriculture & Beverage Committee. He is a frequent lecturer and author on international food safety matters. Mr. Ettinger is a Chambers and Partners ranked attorney in the area of Life Sciences (International Firms) – China and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2016 (FDA Law).
Prior to joining Keller and Heckman, Mr. Ettinger was a trademark attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Additionally, he has extensive trial experience as a former assistant district attorney in the Nassau County District Attorney's Office in New York where he prosecuted felonies and misdemeanors.
Alistair manages the Food Packaging Safety Section within 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 all the South American countries.
Alistair graduated with a degree and PhD in Chemistry from Birmingham University. After working for BP and the Department of Health, he joined Smithers in 1994, taking up his current position in 1995.
