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.
Anna Papagrigoraki is the Sustainability Director at Cepi, the European Confederation of Paper Industries, since 2019. Prior to Cepi, Anna held positions in PlasticsEurope where she was part of the Advocacy team and CEFS, the EU Sugar Manufacturers Association as an Environment & Agricultural Advisor. She has experience in environmental policy topics ranging from industrial emissions and circular economy to climate change and life-cycle-assessment. Anna has Masters in Civil Engineering (2009) and MSc in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment (2010) from the University of Southampton.
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.
Dr Padula has an MSc in Food Engineering and a PhD in Food Science from the Faculty of Food Engineering/UNICAMP. She is a Scientific Researcher level VI at CETEA/ITAL Brazil and specialises in the assessment of package/product interaction and national and international packaging legislation. Dr Padula is a member of the ANVISA Workgroup of FCM, and a member of the MERCOSUR Subcommittee on Food Packaging.
Nondumiso Mofokeng is an Analytical Technologist at Mpact's Consumer Safety and Innovation Centre. She holds a BSc in Chemistry and Biochemistry, a BSc Honours in Environmental Management and an MSc in Environmental Sciences. Nondumiso is currently studying towards a PhD in Environmental Analytical Chemistry at the University of Witwatersrand.
Dr. Katherine Wilkening is a Regulatory Review Scientist in the Office of Food Additive Safety (OFAS), Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Wilkening’s regulatory review experience encompasses Food Contact Notifications, pre-notification consultations, and pre-market infant formula packaging reviews. Prior to joining the FDA, Dr. Wilkening completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the U.S. FDA’s CFSAN Office of Regulatory Science. Dr. Wilkening is a bioanalytical chemist by training and holds a Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Dr. Malcolm Driffield has over 25 years’ experience in the field of analytical chemistry, providing advice and guidance on the analytical techniques used to investigate problems across a number of commodities and Industries including food, beverages, packaging and food contact materials. During his 16 years at a UK Government lab, he gained widespread experience in analytical methodologies used for the determination of chemical contaminants in foods and food contact materials, including an extensive knowledge of non-targeted analysis techniques used for the determination of non-intentionally added substances (NIAS).
In November 2018 Dr Driffield took up the position of Managing Scientist in the Chemical Regulation and Food Safety Team at Exponent International, a multi-disciplinary engineering and scientific consulting firm, and now specializes in technical and regulatory problem solving, assisting businesses to gain authorization for products to be used in different global markets, and providing advice and guidance on analytical techniques used to investigate problems, and the interpretation of information rich data sets determined by modern analytical techniques.
Dr Marinella Vitulli (51) is the owner and the technical director of Food Contact Center srl.
She has worked in the field of analytical services for 20 years and added expertise in the field of food safety during this time. After obtaining her PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from the Pisa University, Dr Vitulli worked as Researcher in Pisa University, dealing with food and pharmaceutical chemistry.
She took over the position of Quality Control and R&D Manager at Drogheria e Alimentari S.p.A. in 2005, and was in charge as Laboratory Manager in the Intertek Italian Lab, between 2008 and 2010. As Laboratory Director at ECOLSTUDIO spa, Dr Vitulli was responsible for the development and management of the testing capabilities for food, environmental and consumer products.
In her next position she was Laboratory Manager in pH Lab, a member of TÜV SÜD, coordinating the laboratory activity and developing technical services and testing on food, food contact, consumer products and environmental samples.
Dr Marinella Vitulli belongs to the professional association of Chemists “Albo dei Chimici”. Since 2009 she belongs to the Professional Association AIBO - Food Contact Expert” (matr n°035). She cooperates with Italian Packaging Institute taking part in technical committee, and having speech in trainings and many national and international events.
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.
Peter graduated from York University with a BA in Chemistry and from University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology with a PhD in polymer science. He has worked in the resins and coatings industries in various roles. He is currently Regulatory Affairs Manager (in Europe) for The Valspar Corporation and is actively involved in activities to support the can coating business and food contact, some of which are chairing the industry consortium involved in the 7th Framework Programme for developing a risk management tool to assess exposure to migrants from food packaging (FACET) and the Coatings Code of Practice group in addition to supporting other trade association initiatives. The latest initiative is in critiquing conditions in the migration guidelines for the plastics regulation and where they are inappropriate for non-plastics in association with numerous professional associations.
Peter has published widely – over 18 books and peer reviewed scientific articles.
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.
A member of the FoodChain ID Executive Leadership Team, Kevin is an experienced regulatory attorney who has worked and consulted in the food and consumer products space for 25 years. He advises some of the world’s largest manufacturers on food additive, food contact and supply chain compliance challenges. He has headed international consulting projects on four continents over two decades and is responsible for the content of FoodChain ID’s regulatory compliance products. Prior to FoodChain ID’s acquisition of Decernis (of which Kevin was a founder), he was responsible for regulatory content and was Executive Director of the global advisory services team.
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.
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.
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.
Marjatta graduated in 1995 from the Helsinki University of Technology with an MSc degree in paper, paper converting and printing. She has gained strong experience in the field of paperboard, printing, and food production. Last 7 years she has worked at Metsä Board with product safety issues covering regulatory, compliance, and GMP practices and certifications.
Work experience in multinational companies in Food&Beverage, Packaging&Materials and Consultancy fields. Acquired transversal skills and knowledge in R&D and Innovation on the development of new products. Deep knowledge of development process from the concept to the launch to markets. Ability to conduct global regulatory compliance assessments
Bio to follow.
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.
