Green Claims and Sustainability Labelling in Europe

Sarah Arayess is an Attorney and the Founder of the Say legal, based in The Netherlands. Say legal is a boutique law firm specialising in food law, consumer goods, and advertising law. Say legal has two pillars: Say legal studio, which supports companies from start-up to multinational, and Say legal academy which provides educational resources like in-house workshops, education, and articles. Sarah also lectures for the Benelux Professional Education for Trademark and Design Attorneys (BBMM) and the University of Applied Sciences Arnhem at Nijmegen (HAN). Sarah is also member of the Board of Directors of the European Food Law Association (EFLA), board member of the Netherlands Association for Food Law (NVLR), editorial member of the new Dutch journal Tijdschrift for Levensmiddelenrecht (Journal of Food Law) and chair of the Dutch Annual Food Law Event.

Bärbel Hintermeier founding partner at LEKKER Partners – a lawfirm specialised in food law and sustainability. She advises in particular on labelling issues, assists in the development of advertising strategies and in crisis situations such as official complaints and product recalls. Another focus of her work is advising on the development and improvement of compliance systems with regard to food safety and sustainability aspects. Previously, she worked in Berlin and Cape Town before joining meyer.rechtsanwälte as a lawyer in Munich for several years. Later on she worked as legal counsel at German Association of the Grain, Milling and Starch Industry (VGMS), where she was responsible for food law, quality and safety as well as sustainability matters. She holds a Master’s degree in international intellectual property law from the TU Dresden and a certificate in sustainability management from FH Hamburg. In addition to publishing in specialist journals, she regularly gives lectures and teaches at the DHBW Heilbronn.

Veerle Poppe has 30 years of experience in different marketing and business development roles in the food sector (both B2B and B2C), in the information sector and in retail. She currently works at the Colruyt Group as Sustainability Strategist and EIT Lead. She has been involved in the PEF and sustainability labelling since 2014 and launched both the Nutri-score and the Eco-score. At Colruyt Group she focuses on informing and empowering consumers to lead a sustainable lifestyle based on robust scientific proof and embedded in the regional and European legislation and in the Colruyt Group strategy.

Gaëlle Saint-Jalmes is a Partner and Co-founder of the law firm Qolumn in Paris and has been practising for more than fifteen years in the field of product law, for French and international clients. As a lawyer and then in-house counsel, Gaëlle Saint-Jalmes has developed specific expertise in food law and regulation (nutritional and health claims, labelling, food supplements, crisis management, etc.) as well as in other consumer goods regulation such as cosmetics, in product safety and sustainable development issues applied to consumer products.  

Cesare Varallo is a Food Lawyer in Italy and a Global Advisor on food safety, food labelling and food regulatory issues. In 2013, he founded the blog foodlawlatest.com and co-founded Food Orbit in 2023. He works at the intersection between science, law, business and social sciences. He teaches food law-related matters in several universities in Italy and abroad.

Franca Werhahn founding partner at LEKKER Partners – a lawfirm specialized in food law and sustainability. She counsels national and international companies especially in matters of food labelling, the development of advertising strategies, and in crisis scenarios such as regulatory complaints or product recalls. Another key aspect of her work is advising on the design and optimization of compliance systems, particularly with regard to food safety and sustainability requirements. She worked in Cape Town and in a law firm for pharmaceutical law and medical law before she started working for several years as a lawyer at meyer.rechtsanwälte in Munich. Since 2023, she has also been supporting the Association of the German Grain, Milling and Starch Industry (VGMS), where she was responsible for food law and sustainability. In addition to publishing in specialist journals, she regularly gives lectures and teaches at the DHBW Heilbronn.