Contaminants and Residues in Food

Representatives from the regulatory bodies, research institutes and industry are presenting the most pressing questions on how to deal with environmental pollutants, process contaminants, artificial intelligence and big data as well as other "hot topics". We inform you reliably about all regulatory developments and scientific findings of the last few months, e.g. on PFAS, mineral oil, BPX and perchlorate.

13.11. — 14.11.2025
Live Stream
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ÜbersichtProgrammReferent:innenVeranstaltungsortPreise & Leistungen

Übersicht

Contaminants and residues in food are strictly regulated within the European Union. The risk management and toxicological assessment of contaminants and residues, essential to produce compliant products, pose challenges across the entire food industry.

The conference brings together representatives from regulatory and industry backgrounds, as well as political decision-makers to discuss the latest regulatory developments. It keeps track of scientific progress, advances in food analysis and recent developments in risk assessment.

Would you prefer to join on-site in Dusseldorf? Then you can find further information here.

Early Bird Bookings10% discount valid until 12 September 2025 with discount code: CONTA10

Highlights

Current situation in Europe and the USA

  • European Community policy on contaminants in foodstuffs
  • FDA’s focus on chemical contaminants – setting priorities in method development

Food contaminants

  • Per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) – occurrence, mitigation and challenges ahead
  • BPA and related analogues
  • Brominated flame retardants (BFR)

Process contaminants

  • Hazards of dietary furan and alkylfurans
  • Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and related compounds – occurrence and health risks
  • Advanced glycation end products (AGE) in food – gaps and challenges

Artificial intelligence and big data

  • Digital tools for prediction and prevention of food safety risks
  • Digital approaches to identify pollutant “hot spots”

Other hot topics

  • Mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOSH and MOAH) – an industry perspective
  • Perchlorate and chlorate: Where do we stand?
  • Ethylene oxide and 2-chloroethanol: Ongoing challenges
  • Nanoparticles – toxicology and movements to NAMs

Who should attend this conference?

Professionals working in the fields of:

  • Analysis
  • Quality assurance & control
  • Product safety
  • Raw material control
  • Regulatory affairs & support
  • Research & development
  • Toxicology

Sectors taking part:

  • Food and feed industry
  • Food retailing
  • Packaging industry
  • Food inspection offices
  • Laboratories
  • Research institutes
  • Authorities
  • Professional associations

What our participants say about this event:

  • „I have appreciated that contaminants have been discussed from different points of view: With the presentations of regulator risk assessors and food business operators, and from a toxicological point of view as well as analytical.“ (Floriana Maccarone, Kraft Heinz Italia SpA)
  • „For me, as a representative from a commercial laboratory, this conference was very valuable! The mix of legislation updates, scientific updated insights and market challenges is very informative for us!“ (Alexander Van de Bitt, Eurofins LZV)
  • „I would definitely recommend this event to others. Great quality speakers, good venue as well as interesting networking opportunities.“ (David Marin, Ibereras Specialties)

Picture Credit: © Visual Generation – iStock

 

Programm

Thursday, 13 November 2025

Timings are in Central European Time CET.



Morning Session | 9:30 – 13:30 CET
9:00
On-site registration and opening of the virtual meeting room
9:30
Welcoming speech by the organisers and the Chairs

Dieter Schrenk, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany
Richard Stadler, Nestlé Research, Switzerland

Current situation in Europe
9:40
Recent and future developments of EU legislation in the field of agricultural contaminants (e.g. mycotoxins, plant toxins)

Frans Verstraete, European Commission, Belgium (invited)

Mycotoxins
10:40
Occurrence of beauvericin and enniatins in milling oats
  • Characteristics
  • Occurrence and co-occurrence
  • Reduction during de-hulling

Inga Hennies, H. & J. Brüggen, Germany

11:15
Coffee break
Artificial intelligence and big data
11:45
CHEFS database (using EFSA’s food safety control data) and machine learning to develop prediction models for food safety contamination

Bas van der Velden, Wageningen Food Safety Research (WFSR), The Netherlands

12:20
Digital tools for prediction and prevention of food safety risks
  • Enhancing food safety by the use of AI-supported databases
  • Effective utilisation of food safety data by AI

Sina Röhrs, SGS Germany, Germany

12:55
Digital approaches to identify pollutant “hot spots”

Marina Nikolić, Nestlé Research, Switzerland

13:30
Lunch break


Afternoon Session | 14:40 – 18:00 CET
Food contaminants
14:40
Recent and future developments of EU legislation in the fields of process and environmental contaminants

Veerle Vanheusden, European Commission, Belgium (invited)
Frans Verstraete, European Commission, Belgium (invited)

15:35
BPA and related analogues

Roland Perz, State Institute for Chemical and Veterinary Control (CVUA) Stuttgart, Germany

16:10
Coffee break
16:40
Per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) – occurrence, mitigation and challenges ahead

Xanthippe Theurillat, Nestlé Research, Switzerland

17:15
Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in food

Sara C. Cunha, University of Porto, Portugal

Current situation in the USA
17:50
Setting priorities in method development in the FDA human foods programme

Shaun MacMahon, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), USA (virtually)

18:30
End of the first conference day


Friday, 14 November 2025

Timings are in Central European Time CET.



Morning Session | 8:30 – 13:15 CET
8:30
Welcoming address and opening remarks by the Chairs

Dieter Schrenk, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany
Richard Stadler, Nestlé Research, Switzerland

Process contaminants
8:40
Health risk related to furan and alkylfurans in food
  • Occurrence and exposure
  • Toxicity and health risks

Angela Mally, University of Würzburg, Germany

9:15
Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) in food: Occurrence, health risks and research challenges
  • HMF and related compounds: Formation pathways, food sources, and toxicological concerns
  • Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs): Dietary exposure, health impacts and research gaps

Michael Hellwig, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany

Other hot topics
9:50
Mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOSH and MOAH) – an industry perspective

Alexandre Panchaud, Nestlé Research, Switzerland

10:25
Coffee break
10:55
Updated scientific opinion on the risks for human health related to the presence of perchlorate in food

Elena Rovesti, European Food Safet Authority (EFSA), Italy

11:30
Perchlorate and chlorate: Where do we stand?

Kata Héjjas, Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE), Belgium

12:05
Toxicology and movements to NAMs for application in risk assessment of nanoparticles

Valérie Fessard, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), France

12:40
Ethylene oxide in food: Why persist in defying chemistry and biochemistry rules?

Thomas Bessaire, Nestlé Research, Switzerland

13:15
Lunch and end of the conference

Referent:innen

Folgende Referierende haben bereits zugesagt, weitere folgen in Kürze:

Name

Unternehmen

Bessaire

Thomas Bessaire

Nestlé Research, Switzerland

Thomas Bessaire is a Chemist and an Analytical Specialist in Chemical Contaminants at Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne. He supports Nestlé businesses by providing analytical methods and scientific expertise for chemical contaminants analysis in foods. He is a member of the European CEN Panel Experts on Biotoxins, and joined several working groups at AOAC International.

mehrweniger

Sara C. Cunha

University of Porto, Portugal

Sara C. Cunha, Ph.D. in Nutrition and Food Chemistry from the University of Porto, Portugal, is a Principal Research Scientist at LAQV-REQUIMTE. An expert in water, food, and environmental contaminants, she has developed innovative chromatographic techniques for detecting mycotoxins (patulin, tricothecenes, ochratoxin A, aflatoxins, ennantins), pesticide residues, industrial processing contaminants (acrylamide, biogenic amines, 4-methylimidazole), migrant packing contaminants (bisphenols, phthalates), and environmental contaminants (UV-filters, triclosan, PAHs, pharmaceutical residues, musks, brominated flame retardants, perfluorinated compounds). Her research also includes studying bioaccessibility, bioavailability, endocrine disruption, the impacts of climate change, and microplastics on environmental health. She has published over 195 articles in peer-reviewed journals (H-index 51) and contributed to 16 book chapters. She has extensive experience leading European projects (e.g., group leader, HORIZON CisWEFE-NEX, H2020 SEAFOODtomorrow, FP7 ECsafeSEAFOOD, Interreg Spain-Portugal FoodSens) and National projects (e.g. PI of CleanH2O, EDCs-Seafood).

mehrweniger

Valérie Fessard

French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), France

Hellwig

Michael Hellwig

Technische Universität Dresden, Germany

Michael Hellwig studied Food Chemistry between 1999 and 2004 at Technische Universität Dresden (Germany) and obtained his PhD in 2011. In his post-doc time, he worked on the microbial metabolization of glycated amino acids. In 2016, he became PI in Dresden and intensified his studies on the chemistry of protein oxidation. From 2020-2022, he was a professor of Food Chemistry at Technische Universität Braunschweig (Germany), before he returned to Dresden in 2022 as a professor of Special Food Chemistry.

mehrweniger

Inga Hennies

H. & J. Brüggen, Germany

Inga Hennies, PhD, is an Ecotrophologist and joined the Quality Assurance Unit at H. & J. Brüggen KG in 2009. Since 2012 she has been the Head of Quality Internal Processes and became Transformation Manager in 2023. She is also a member of the Getreidenährmittelausschuss of AGF (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Getreideforschung).

mehrweniger
Héjjas

Kata Héjjas

Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE), Belgium

Kata Héjjas is a Food Engineer with over 5 years of experience in the food industry. She joined Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE) in 2022 as a Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Manager and is responsible for food safety, food additives and slimming and sport foods working groups.

mehrweniger

Shaun MacMahon

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), USA

Shaun MacMahon is currently the Acting Director for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Human Foods Program (HFP) Office of Scientific Coordination and Computational Sciences and has served in several different roles as a laboratory analyst and in leadership since joining the FDA in 2003. He is active in FDA’s Method Development, Validation, and Implementation Program, HFP’s Closer to Zero efforts, as well as the Laboratory Flexible Funding Model (LFFM), a cooperative agreement with 55 state human and animal food testing laboratories in 40 states in support of an integrated food safety system in the U.S.

mehrweniger

Angela Mally

University of Würzburg, Germany

Angela Mally is a Professor of Toxicology at the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Würzburg in Germany. Her research focuses on understanding molecular mechanisms of disease related to toxic/carcinogenic chemicals and natural food contaminants (e.g. the ochratoxin A, furan) as a basis for risk assessment. As a member of the DFG Standing Senate Commission on the Health Evaluation of Food (SKLM) and the Commission on Contaminants in the Food Chain at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Angela Mally acts in an advisory capacity and also contributes her toxicological expertise to various international working groups (e.g. ILSI Europe, EFSA). She serves as editor-in-chief of the international scientific journal Toxicology Letters.

mehrweniger

Marina Nikolić

Nestlé Research, Switzerland

Panchaud

Alexandre Panchaud

Nestlé Research, Switzerland

Alexandre Panchaud is currently the Head of the Institute for Food Safety & Analytical Science at Nestlé Research in Lausanne. Alexandre has 20 years of experience in the food industry and has held several R&D and quality management positions within Nestlé.

mehrweniger

Roland Perz

State Institute for Chemical and Veterinary Control (CVUA) Stuttgart, Germany

Elena Rovesti

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Italy

Röhrs

Sina Röhrs

SGS Germany, Germany

Sina Röhrs studied Medical Nutritional Sciences and Nutritional Medicine at the University of Lübeck and is currently pursuing her doctorate at TU Berlin in the field of \"Predictive Risk Assessment of Food Using AI-Based Data Models.\" Additionally, she has been working for about three years as a Sales Consultant in the Health and Nutrition sector at SGS Germany in Hamburg, Germany.

mehrweniger
Schrenk

Dieter Schrenk

University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany

Dieter Schrenk has been a Professor for Food Chemistry and Environmental Toxicology at the University of Kaiserslautern since 1996. In 2005 he took on the full professorship for Food Chemistry and Toxicology. He joined the EFSA CONTAM Panel in 2003 where he was the Chair from 2018 to 2024.

mehrweniger
Stadler

Richard Stadler

Nestlé Research, Switzerland

Richard Stadler has been the Head of the Institute for Food Safety & Analytical Science at Nestlé in Lausanne from 2017 to 2024. Previously, he held several research and quality management positions within Nestlé. He was also the Chairman of the FoodDrinkEurope contaminants expert group. Since 2024 he has been working as a Scientific Advisor at Nestlé Research.

mehrweniger
Theurillat

Xanthippe Theurillat

Nestlé Research, Switzerland

Xanthippe Theurillat is an Analytical Chemist and a specialist in the Analytical Science Department in the field of food contaminants at Nestlé Research in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2012, she joined the Regional Swiss Official Food Control Laboratory in Lausanne as a scientific expert in the contaminants section. Since 2015, she is working at the Nestlé Research in Lausanne with a specific focus on the method development in the domain of contaminants, like pesticides, emerging and process contaminants and lately PFAS. Moreover, she participated in projects for the mechanistic understanding of process contaminants which allowed to publish subsequently patent applications.

mehrweniger

Bas van der Velden

Wageningen Food Safety Research, The Netherlands

Bas van der Velden leads the Data Science team at Wageningen Food Safety Research. With over 10 years of hands-on experience in machine learning and deep learning, he specialises in explainable AI (XAI), making complex models more transparent for high-stakes domains like food safety. He holds a PhD in Medical Imaging from Utrecht University and an MSc in Medical Engineering from Eindhoven University of Technology. Bas has worked at leading institutions, including UC Berkeley and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He currently oversees a team of 20+ AI and data science experts focused on food safety.

mehrweniger

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smummenbrauer@akademie-fresenius.de

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