Residues of Mineral Oil and Synthetic Hydrocarbons in Food

Maurus Biedermann is a Chemical Analyst and Laboratory Head at the Official Food Control Authority of the Canton of Zurich. He has more than 30 years of experience in food analysis and was involved in the development of large volume on-column GC injection and the on-line coupling of HPLC with GC.

Claus-Michael Brieber is a Food Technologist. He has been the Lead Quality and R&D at Henry Lamotte Oils in Bremen since 2020 where he has been responsible for all topics around quality, regulatory, food-safety. Earlier he was Lead Quality Management of the European Carl Kühne group, where he was responsible for the quality of their products (and coordinating the field of people safety) in Germany, France & Turkey. Earlier he also joined international food-companies like Nestlé, Fuchs-Spices, Bofrost* and Bunge.

Martin Einig is a Chemist and the Scientific Director of the German Spice Association. Previously, he has been the Secretary General of the European Spice Association from 2019 until early 2025.

Thomas Gude is Managing Director of Thomas Gude GmbH, which specialises in consulting in the areas of food contact materials, food and non-food. After about 30 years with authorities, the pharmaceutical and chemical industries and a long time as the operational manager of a Swiss laboratory, he now deals with risk assessments, especially in the food contact and consumer goods sector. In addition, he teaches at various universities and technical colleges, in particular at ETH Zurich.

Rüdiger Helling worked as Head of the Food Contact Materials and Consumer Goods Section at the Saxon State Laboratory for Public and Veterinary Health for 14 years and is member of several scientific advisory committees. In his current position as Head of Division at the Saxon State Ministry for Social Affairs and Cohesion he is responsible for the whole diversity of not only contaminants in food.

Nils Hinrichsen is a food chemist with more than 25 years of experience in oils and fats research. He worked with ADM's Oils and Fats Research Center in Hamburg from 2008 to 2022 before joining CSM Ingredients, where he served as Director of the Innovation Center for Fats, Oils & Emulsifiers from 2022 until March 2026, leading research and innovation in sustainable food ingredients and lipid technologies. He rejoined ADM in 2026.

Michiel Kokken studied Food Science at Wageningen University and has held various quality and regulatory positions at ADM Cocoa and Olam Cocoa. He currently serves as Global Head of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Cocoa at olam food ingredients (ofi), where he leads regulatory strategy across the cocoa business and the EMENA region. Michiel is actively engaged in several industry working groups, including serving as Chair of the Technical Working Group on Mineral Oil Hydrocarbons (a cross‑sector initiative involving the jute and cocoa sectors), Co‑Chair of the ICCO Expert Working Group on Food Safety, and member of the contaminants and pesticides working group (ECA/Caobisco).

Alexander Montoya-Arroyo has been a Postdoctoral Researcher at the DTU-National Food Institute, at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) since 2024. He is part of the Research Group Analytical Food Chemistry and the European Reference Laboratory for Processing Contaminants. Earlier he studied Food Technology at the University of Costa Rica and obtained his Masters degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica. Afterwards he received his PhD in Human Nutrition at the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

Eileen Schulz is a Food Chemist and has been Manager of the Silliker® Food Science Center at Kirchhoff Institut, Mérieux NutriSciences, since 2020. She joined the Kirchhoff Institut in 2009 to lead the departments of contaminants and pesticides and became Head of the laboratory in 2020.

Thomas Simat has been a Professor and the Chair of Food Science and FCM at the Technische Universität Dresden with research on FCM since 2003. He is the Chairman of the ‘German BfR Committee on Consumer Products’’.

Veerle Vanheusden is a Policy Officer in DG SANTE of the European Commission. She joined the European Commission in 2013, where she worked for four years in the Unit “Pesticides and Biocides”. In 2017 she moved to the Unit dealing with food processing technologies and novel foods, where her main area of activity is the EU policy and legislation on contaminants. She has previously worked in the private pharmaceutical sector.