Global Food Contact 2023 returned as an in-person conference on the 22 - 24 May in Prague, Czech Republic. Bringing together the entire food contact supply chain; as the only food contact forum that covers all the latest food contact regulations and legislations on a global scale and will provide a meeting place for everyone involved in the food contact supply chain.
Global Food Contact is the must-attend event for anyone involved within the food contact materials supply chain! Industry leaders and legislators from across the entire food contact supply chain gather to explore and exchange information regarding global food contact developments and initiatives, and forecast the future industry landscape.
Monday 22 May 2023 | 13:30 - 16:30 CET | Sponsored by Keller and Heckman
Marco has been involving in food contact materials for more than 20 years. In 2008, He worked as a visiting scientist at Joint research Center of European Commission. Marco is the member of Reviewing Committee for China National Food Safety Standards, and the member of Standardization Committee for plastic food contact material and food contact paper. To date, he has published more than 100 papers in journals and academic conferences. Marco was assigned by the authority since 2014 to draft a serial of Chinese legislations including multilayer packaging, wood and bamboo, Paper and paper board, as well as specific migration methods.
Marco was also appointed as the chairperson of expert committee for FCMs in China food industry association ,The chairperson of working force for China sustainable food contact material, and the member of scientific committee (SC) of International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Europe, dedicating to assist government and industry to manage the safety and sustainable FCMs on a scientific manner.
As Head of Group Product Safety at the MM Group, Dr Gerold is responsible for Food Contact Compliance of papers and carton boards produced in six MM Board & Paper mills as well as for packaging manufactured at more than 70 MM Packaging sites located in Europe, America and Asia. Dr Gerold advises on food contact materials legislation and on the practical implementation thereof and hygiene requirements. She has a PhD in Chemistry from Vienna University of Technology and joined the MM group in 2022 after more than 15 years of experience in regulatory management at various food and pharma packaging companies.
Tom Gillett advises clients on a wide range of environmental law, with a focus on chemicals regulation and product regimes (including REACH, biocides, food contact, product standards and CE/UKCA marking) in both the EU and the UK.
With a background in complex and technical contentious environmental law (including contaminated land, pollution incidents, environmental permitting and waste regulation), Tom is well placed to help clients navigate regulatory investigations, appeals and tribunal hearings, as well as to advise on regulatory compliance, data sharing, consortium management, and supply chain due diligence.
The Legal 500 UK, 2022, quotes one client as saying "I have worked with Tom Gillett and have found him to be diligent and knowledgeable in this developing area. As well as providing clear advice on a one to one basis, I also find his contributions in seminars and panel discussions useful and valuable."
Tom advises clients on a wide range of environmental and product safety law, with a focus on chemicals and products (including FCM, product standards and labelling, and packaging) in both the EU and the UK. With a background in complex and technical contentious environmental law, Tom assists clients to achieve and maintain market access, and navigate regulatory investigations and hearings.
After completing her higher technical education in chemistry, Elisa Mayrhofer studied microbiology at the University of Vienna. For here PhD she joined the Austrian Research Institute for Chemistry and Technology (OFI) in 2018 to work on the development and validation of methods for the safety assessment of unidentified substances in food packaging migrates. Her main focus was the establishment of an in-vitro bioassay-based strategy to detect DNA-reactive mutagens. In the research project “PolyCycle”, where Elisa Mayrhofer was able to take on the role of the project manager, this strategy was successfully applied to analyse recycled polymers to contribute to a safe application of recycled materials in direct food contact. For her achievements in this project she was awarded with the ACR woman award honouring the best scientist in the ACR research network.
Alexandra Ross has an extensive background in food technology with more than 20 years specialization in food packaging and food safety, among other product-relevant compliance information in applications such as textiles, shoes, hygiene, and furniture. She joined H.B. Fuller in 2009 and is currently responsible for all food contact compliance issues across various adhesive technologies and an expert in sustainability and recycling topics. She is a member of both the German Adhesives Association IVK - being part of the Technical Commission Paper and Packaging -, and FEICA, the European Association for Adhesives and Sealants - where she serves as the chairman of the Technical Working Group “Paper and Packaging” since 2015. Alexandra has been supporting the adhesive industry with thought leadership on upcoming regulations and issuing guidelines and many position papers. She’s also an experience speaker who has given numerous lectures and presentations at specialized conferences and forums in Europe.
Since March 2019 Burcak Icli Pollard has been Food Contact Material (FCM) specialist RSA & Safety at Nestle System Technology Center. Her role is to ensure the FCM safety and worldwide compliance (S&C) of all the development and innovation projects on Nestle Systems ( e.g. beverage machines and packaging/capsules) including latest sustainable breakthrough Nestle solutions. From July 2015 to March 2019 she was Continuous Improvement Manager at ROPAC® Packaging, part of Schoeller Allibert Group. Her role included managing projects related to raw materials innovation and process stabilisation for high quality packaging. She validated multiple raw materials for packaging product portfolio using her strong theoretical knowledge on polymer materials and good understanding of FCM legislation. Her technical abilities come from 8 years managing and performing research projects during her PhD (et EPFL, Switzerland) and Post-doctoral (Adolphe Merkle Institute, Switzerland) studies on Chemistry and Materials Science.
Exponent International provides support and advice to clients to help navigate the European and International food regulatory environment. Exponent can provide expert scientific and regulatory support in the areas of food contact materials, novel foods, food additives, enzymes, nutrition and health claims and dietary exposure assessment.
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.
Ms. Xiaolu Wang is a Senior Chemical Regulatory Compliance Consultant with 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.
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.
Päivi Harju-Eloranta has a Master’s degree in Chemistry. She has worked in Stora Enso more than 30 years in various positions. Päivi has wide experience in product and packaging development, technical marketing, sustainability and product safety. Current responsibility as a Director, Product Stewardship, means involvement in food safety, compliance topics and regulatory affairs
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.
