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.
Jonathan studied biochemistry and specialised in toxicology at the University of Surrey in the UK and graduated there in 2002. He joined the UK's Food Standards Agency the same year where he worked as a senior scientific officer on risk management of chemicals in food, including contaminants, pesticides and food contact materials. He represented and negotiated on behalf of the UK at EU and international level including Codex and managed several research and surveillance projects.
Jonathan joined the European Commission in 2014 and works as a policy officer in DG SANTE on food contact materials including the new initiative to revise the EU legislation. He is based in Brussels, in Belgium.
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.
Hazel O'Keeffe counsels clients on the regulation of food-contact materials, notably in the European Union (EU), Switzerland and the United Kingdom, focusing on establishing a suitable status for all types of food-contact materials at both the EU and national level.
Hazel helps clients navigate the complexities of applying the principle of mutual recognition to facilitate the free movement of non-harmonized products throughout the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA), and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. She advises on inter alia, EU requirements for biocides, materials in contact with drinking water, personal protective equipment, packaging waste and single-use plastics, medicinal products/European Pharmacopoeia, medical devices, cosmetics, fluorinated greenhouse gases, ozone depleting substances and recycling and green claims.
She completed an internship at the European Commission during which she specialized in relations with the European Parliament and gained first-hand experience of the workings of the EU institutions.
Hazel is a contributing author to PackagingLaw.com, as well as related industry publications, and is frequently invited to speak at international food-contact conferences.
Dr McCombie is Head of Department at Kantonales Labor Zürich, the food safety authority for the Canton of Zurich in Switzerland. He has been in this role since 2009. He has a Postdoc in Biochemistry from The University of Cambridge and a PhD and Masters’ degree from ETH.
Els Heyvaert graduated in chemistry, environmental care. In 2008, she started working for the Federal Public Service Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment of Belgium in the field of Food Supplements, Enriched Foodstuffs and Foods for Special Nutritional Use, where she was responsible for the verification of notification dossiers . Since November 2014 she has worked for the same department as Regulatory expert on Food Contact Materials and Food for Specific Groups. Her responsibilities include the drafting and monitoring of national legislations, and she is one of the Belgian members in the FCM working group of the European Commission and in the plenary sessions of the European Committee for Food Contact Materials and Articles of the EDQM/Council of Europe.
Dr. Elizabeth S. Furukawa is a Consumer Safety Officer. Since 2003, she serves as a scientific and regulatory analyst for premarket notifications of food contact substances within the Division of Food Contact Substances in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Furukawa received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Redlands and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Arizona State University.
Joan Baughan practices food and drug law, focusing on US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and comparable international regulation of food contact materials, drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices. With a distinctive legal and scientific background in microbiology and medical technology, Joan helps clients establish regulatory compliance for their products globally, performs compliance audits and training seminars, and represents companies and trade associations before US agencies and their international counterparts.
Joan Baughan also developed substantial experience in Brussels, counselling clients on the regulation of food packaging materials and medicinal products under European Union and Member State legislation.
Joan frequently speaks at international conferences on various FDA and related regulatory topics and is an accomplished writer within the food and drug arena. She was a contributing author and the sole editor of the comprehensive food packaging book "Global Legislation for Food Contact Materials," and has written chapters – such as "Regulation of Nanotechnology in Food Contact Applications in the United States and Canada," and "US Legislation on Food Contact Materials," – for other publications. Joan also has written about drug packaging, including an article titled, "The Latest on Drug Master Files for Packaging Materials in the United States – and a Little History," for Packaging Digest.
Mr. Kenny founded Decernis in 2003 and is an experienced regulatory attorney who has worked and consulted for 25 years in the food and consumer products space. He advises some of the world’s largest manufacturers on Food Additive, Food Contact and Supply Chain compliance challenges globally.
Mr. Kenny is responsible for both the regulatory content of Decernis products and its Subject Matter Expertise across the 226 countries Decernis covers. Beginning in January 2020, Mr. Kenny acted as Executive Director of Decernis’ recently expanded global advisory services team, having headed international consulting projects on four continents over two decades. In September 2020, he was named Senior Vice President of Managed Services at Decernis’ parent company, FoodChain ID, in addition to leading Decernis.
Biography coming soon.
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.
Speaker bio to follow shortly
Steven Marks is Director of Product Compliance for the Avery Dennison Corporation, a diversified Fortune 500 manufacturer of labeling, packaging, and medical products with over 150 locations globally. In this role, he has global responsibility for the company’s product stewardship, safety, and compliance program, ensuring that the company’s products meet regulatory requirements in all countries where its products are sold, are safe for use by customers, and achieve world class sustainability and environmental performance.
Previously, he was global environmental manager for General Electric Consumer and Industrial, the division of GE that manufactures home appliances, lighting products, and electrical distribution equipment. In this role, he ensured that the division’s operations minimized environmental impacts and achieved associated regulatory requirements. Steven has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Dayton and a Masters of Science in Engineering Management from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology.
Natasha Hausler Banke is the R&D Analytical Lab Manager for INX International Ink Company at the West Chicago R&D facility. Natasha received her PhD in Chemistry from Texas Christian University and began her career in Texas as a postdoctoral associate applying nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to the analysis of cellular metabolites. Continuing her work at the University of Illinois at Chicago as a research professor, she added mass spectrometry to her analytical techniques for metabolic analysis. The unifying themes of her research and publications have combined small molecule analysis by NMR and mass spectrometry for detection and quantification of analytes. In the years since graduating, she has enjoyed teaching several classes and acquired a certification in research methods.
After 13 years in the academic world, in 2015 she transitioned to working as an analytical chemist for INX International Ink Company. In 2021, she took on the roll of R&D Analytical Lab Manager. Natasha describes herself as an investigator. Her current position allows her to solve complex problems by applying her understanding of method development and analyte detection to raw materials and ink systems. In addition to her day-to-day duties at INX, she is a member of the Analytical Expert Working Group with EuPIA (European Printing Ink Association) and Association of Plastics Recyclers. She has presented papers at the conference meetings for NAPIM, RadTech, and TAGA.
Sarah Dubail has been Regulatory Affairs Specialist at Sherwin-Williams, Packaging coatings division, since 2017. Formerly she was the Manager of the European Analytical lab of Valspar for 13 years, responsible for analysing migration from packaging coatings and providing analytical data to carry out risk assessments. She has experience in food contact regulations and analytical methods for the determination of FCM migrants including NIAS. She is an active member of CEPE food contact material groups, contributed to coating industry migration and NIAS guidelines and chairs the Rigid Metal Can Sector’s working group on Methodology to demonstrate Compliance with Framework Regulation (EU) 1935/2004.
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.
Luisa Poletti is the Quality Supplier Manager for flexible packaging and promotional items at Barilla Group, where she also has Food Contact Technical Regulatory responsibility. She joined Barilla Group in 2001 with responsibility as Plant Quality Manager, and then became Ingredients Supplier Quality Manager and Ingredients Scientist. Prior to joining Barilla she worked in R&D at Danone.
Ms. Poletti has a degree in Food Science and Technology from Milano University.
Dominic Hoy is a Food Contact Steward at Intertek Wilton, working in the Regulatory team with a special focus on our Service Level Agreement clients to who we provide Global Food Contact Regulatory support across a range of Food Contact Materials and at all stages of the supply chain from starting substances to final materials and articles.
Dr. Barry Podd gained a BA (Hons) and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Essex. Post Doctoral Research Fellow for three years at the University of Surrey.
He spent 34 years in Industry in various positions in Research and Development, Marketing, Sales and the Regulatory Affairs Departments and in the Consumer Products Industry as Associate Director Global Regulatory Affairs responsible for regulatory management issues related to chemicals, biocides and food contact around the world before retiring in 2013.
Before retiring, Barry was active in a number of Trade Associations, including CEFIC, EDANA and the European Tissue Symposium, where he either chaired and/or participated in a large number of working groups.
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University.
Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. He is one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, nationally as well as internationally. He has testified on several occasions before parliamentary committees on food policy-related issues as an expert witness. He has been asked to act as an advisor on food and agricultural policies in many Canadian provinces and other countries.
Alejandro Rodarte is Food Policy Manager at FoodDrinkEurope. His professional background and interests cover the wider agri-food supply chain. He is a trained Food Chemist from Mexico City's National University and studied a master in International Agricultural Sciences at the Humboldt University of Berlin.
Since 2007 he has worked in the area of food quality and safety in various roles from researcher to scientific manager in EU funded projects, both in Berlin and in Rome.
Alejandro joined the Brussels world of regulatory affairs in 2017 representing the snacks and later the horticultural sector. Since 2019, he leads FoodDrinkEurope activities and expert groups on Food Contact Materials, Contaminants, and Process Contaminants.
He is a passionate biker and supporter of sustainable mobility, loves to learn languages, and of course, all things food related.
Dr. Christa Hametner is a senior expert in Food Contact Materials at the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) where she has worked since 2008. She is also the Austrian Delegate in the EU-WG on FCM; the Austrian Delegate in the “European committee for FCM and articles (CD-P-MCA)” of the EDQM and Rapporteur for the AG “Paper and Board”; and a Member of the Scientific Network of the Food Ingredients and Food Packaging (FIP) Unit on FCM, EFSA.
Prior to joining AGES, Dr Hametner worked in a variety of roles at the OFI (Austrian Research Institute for Chemistry and Technology). Dr Hametner studied Technical Chemistry at the Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien)
Pamela (Pam) Langhorn counsels domestic and international clients in establishing food-contact regulatory clearances for their products in the U.S., European Union (EU), and South America. Her work with food packaging companies, as well as their suppliers and customers, includes product evaluations, as well as regulatory filings to agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and German Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (BfR). Her work encompasses a full range of packaging substrates and applications, and clients particularly seek her expertise on food-contact paper regulatory issues, including those that arise for recycled paper and paper additives.
Pam spent a year in the firm’s Brussels office, where she gained a first-hand perspective on the EU regulatory scheme. She frequently advises clients on food-contact regulatory issues under the EU Plastics Regulation, EU Member State legislation, and German BfR Recommendations.
Prior to joining Keller and Heckman, Pam was a law clerk for an administrative law judge at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) where she worked on matters related to DEA’s regulation of listed chemicals and controlled substances.
Pam is a contributing author to PackagingLaw.com, which provides news and analysis on worldwide packaging regulations, and she is frequently invited to speak at international food-contact conferences.
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.
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 Safety, means involvement in food safety, compliance topics and regulatory affairs
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.