Speakers

Dr. Ahmet Anbarci, Assoc. Dir. Scientific, Regulatory Affairs & Nutrition Applications Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa

Ahmet is Dipl. - Chemical Engineer (Masters Degree) from University Karlsruhe in Germany and has a PhD from the Institute for Food Processing & Technology of the same University.

He has been with Kraft Foods Research, Development and Quality for 24 years, holding various functions and positions in food process research and development, product development, international projects and, since 1997, with a particular focus on Middle East, Africa, Turkey and Central/Eastern Europe. Currently, Ahmet is responsible for Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, Nutrition Applications and Communications in Central/Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Anett Winkler is currently working in Corporate Microbiology covering Europe, Middle East & Africa, leading the microbiological support for the Snacks category, as well as liaising with external organizations.

In 1998 she joined Kraft after having finished her PhD in Microbiology at the University of Greifswald, and having gained some years of experience in pharmacological research in Germany and USA. One of her first tasks was the compilation of the internal Kraft microbiological methods manual, including validations of various methods. Moving forward Anett was supporting all categories in microbiological questions / issues, later on specializing in the Snacks (chocolate) category. This also included supplier management and approval, as well as auditing activities. Currently she is a member in the Kraft worldwide HACCP team who is responsible for HACCP design, and part of her current activities is to monitor and analyze new technologies, and thereby linking in external organizations to evaluate business potentials.

Joseph W. Russell is the Chief Executive Officer of the Health Department in Flathead County (northwest), Montana. He oversees many traditional public heath health programs and clinical services. Since 1986, he has been a registered Sanitarian with the State of Montana with sporadic registration as an Environmental Health Specialist with the National Environmental Health Association. Joseph obtained his Master of Public Health from the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine in 1991. He is also an Adjunct Instructor with the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training at Louisiana State University and teaches foodborne outbreak response and community healthcare planning and response to disasters. He has been associated with the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) environmental health/food safety for the past 11 years and also co-chairs the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) and has done so since its inception. He also serves on the Montana Board of Environmental Review (BER) for 13 years and has chaired the BER for the past 11 years.

Pascal Zbinden is currently head of a unit at Nestlé called "Early Warning" with the aim to detect new emerging issues, evaluate their impact and prevent them.

About 18 years of experience in Food Safety and Quality Management in both research and operational environment.. Responsible for 5 years for the development of analytical methods in the context of the industry. Operational experience at the Nestlé Quality Center in Asia in Singapore as Zone Scientific Support (responsibility for implementation of new technologies in the laboratory and project on raw material safety (Arsenic in Rice, development and publication of a database on contaminants for Zone Asia). Good experience in factory and laboratory audits. Responsible for a few years for the establishment of sensitive raw material specifications for the whole nutrition business, with the emphasis to redefine food safety of raw materials. Broad experience in food product compliance in the food industry (responsibility to redesign compliance process, development of tools and responsibilities to reach compliance). Good experience in the establishement of recipes for nutrition products (development of a software to create compliant nutrition recipes).

David’s career began with a major bakery group as a laboratory technician. After two years he landed a management role with a major international food snack company as a technical manager. The ensuing 12 years allowed David to expand his managerial experience in a variety of technical management roles within the food sector. This included roles within Cargill UK and Northern Foods and encompassed new product development (NPD), quality, microbial food safety and food legislation disciplines. During this time David developed an interest in food safety risk assessment and auditing. A role as technical consultant to one of the UK’s leading certification bodies allowed David to expand this research base, particularly in the areas of cultural and inter auditor variability.

In 1997 David joined the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff as the Director of the Food Industry Centre, whose primary function is to facilitate the transfer of technical food knowledge from the academic staff to the regional food sector and the development of applied research programmes. David’s role now encompasses research, teaching and consultancy to the food industry, governments and international food organizations. The centre is heavily linked with the Welsh Assembly Government in the development of food sector strategies and is used by the regional government to perform diagnostic analysis of food processors’ technical problems. In April 2009 the university has opened a new $8million food centre to coincide with a $7.5million knowledge exchange programme designed by David, with the Welsh government and industrial partners.

David’s research interests include food safety, auditing (encompassing all GFSI accredited food safety standards and applied research programmes, and innovation in the food sector.

Dr Carol Wallace is Principal Lecturer in Food Safety Management and Co-Director of the International Institute of Nutritional Sciences and Applied Food Safety Studies at the University of Central Lancashire, where she also leads the highly successful MSc in Food Safety Management by eLearning. Carol’s background is in microbiology and applied food safety. Her career spans over 25 years in the food industry; including nearly 20 years in food manufacturing, retailing and consultancy prior to joining academia. She is Fellow and Trustee of the Royal Society for Public Health, and Fellow of both the Institute of Food Science and Technology and the Higher Education Academy.

Carol is a world authority on the HACCP system of food safety management, with particular interests in effectiveness of systems delivering food safety from farm to fork. She has keen interests in the factors impacting HACCP effectiveness, having researched this area in detail within multinational food manufacturing. Having previously led a BRC Certification Body and with current responsibility for leading the assessment panel for the IFST Register of Professional Food Auditors & Mentors, she is also very interested in the effectiveness of food safety and HACCP audit.

Dr. Rabih Kamleh completed his M.Sc. in Food Technology at the American University of Beirut and his PhD in Biotechnology and Food Sciences at Polytechnique of Lorraine- France in 2005. Dr. Kamleh is an Assistant Professor in Food Safety at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut. He was a visiting scientist at the University of Alberta (Canada) in 2010. He has taught courses in Food Quality and Control, Food Safety and Health, Global Food Safety, Product Development, Safety of Dairy Products from farm to fork and Environmental Microbiology. His research has focused on food safety and health concerns from farm to fork. As food should be safe, healthy and also tasty, his work is directed toward investigations of food safety and quality concerns of all parties involved in the food chain (consumers, producers and decision makers). Dr. Kamleh has served as food safety/Science consultant for United Nation Agency (ESCWA), International NGOs (Mercy Corps, Movimondo, OXFAM, and USAID), local and national authorities and many food industries in the region. He has also volunteered for many food safety trainings and workshops for rural communities.

Aidan is Chief Executive Officer of Bega Cheese Limited, the Australian dairy company that publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in August 2011. Prior to his current appointment he was CEO of Tatura Milk Industries Ltd, which is now a fully owned subsidiary of Bega Cheese Limited. He has 27 years of experience in the international marketing and manufacturing of consumer dairy products and dairy ingredients across a wide range of markets including Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South East Asia, Latin America and the Indian sub-continent.

Aidan has held previous positions including Manager Director – Fonterra Brands (Australia), CEO of Bonland Dairies – Australia, Managing Director of New Zealand Milk in Sri Lanka and was General Manager of the Consumer Foods business of Tatua Dairy Company in New Zealand. In 2008 he was appointed CEO of Tatura Milk Industries.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in economics and psychology from Auckland University and a Business Degree in marketing from Massey University in New Zealand, as well as being a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Since 2009, Aidan has been a Director of Dairy Innovation Australia Limited, an industry funded research/innovation organisation, and is also a director of Tatura Milk Industries. Aidan and his wife Jenny live between their beach residence in southern New South Wales, near Bega, and their family residence in Melbourne which is home to their three adult sons.

In his spare time Aidan enjoys reading, travelling, playing bad golf and is a passionate supporter of the All Blacks rugby team.

As Manager Service Integration at Dairy Food Safety Victoria (DFSV), Craig is responsible for overseeing the compliance system used to regulate all Victorian dairy businesses. This encompasses all regulatory food safety audits conducted by DFSV at export registered manufacturing establishments and all audits conducted on behalf of DFSV at domestic manufacturers and dairy farms.

Dr Miller has a PhD in Food Science from the University of Western Sydney and a Masters of Business Administration from Southern Cross University.

Prior to joining DFSV, Craig was Manager Capability Building at the Geoffrey Gardiner Dairy Foundation (a Dairy Industry funding body) where he managed the Foundation’s investment in dairy health and nutrition research as well as the biotechnology portfolio.

Dr Awa Aidara-Kane holds a MSc in Food Technology and a PhD in Microbiology. Before joining WHO , She has been associate Professor of Bacteriology and Virology in Senegal from 1984 to 1990, and Researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar from 1985 to 2002. She was Head of the Laboratory of Experimental Bacteriology and Scientific Director of the Laboratory of Food Hygiene and Environment at Institut Pasteur. Her area of research was phenotypic and genotypic characterization of virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance determinants in enteric and foodborne pathogens. She joined the World Health Organization in 2002 where she is coordinating WHO activities on containment of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) form a food safety perspective. Since December 2011 she is Coordinator of the Foodborne and Zoonotic Diseases (FZD) unit in WHO. The main objective of FZD is the prevention and control of foodborne diseases and zoonoses through : Surveillance of foodborne diseases (including AMR), technical and policy guidance, capacity building, health promotion and consumer education.

Ms. Moza Abdullah Al-Busaidi works at the Fishery Quality Control Center (FQCC) and temporarily at the technical office of the Undersecretary of Fisheries Wealth in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth, Sultanate of Oman. She holds a BSc. in food science and technology from Texas A&M, USA and completed a master degree in food science and nutrition in the Sultan Qaboos University and Master in philosophy in biological science in Newcastle Upon Tyne University, UK. She spent 15 years working in the field of Seafood Safety and Quality issues and hold different positions from assistant researcher to head of the chemical analysis laboratories in FQCC. She has many years’ experience of conducting research studies beside carrying monitoring programs in the field of seafood safety and quality. Participated in the upgrading of the Fishery Quality Control Regulation (12/2009) and contributed in the improvement of the fisheries establishments in terms of implementing Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), revisal of the HACCP documentations and conducting annual auditing. She is currently a member of the Food Safety committee under the auspices of Ministry of Regional municipality and Water Resources. She has published scientific papers and educational leaflets and booklets and gave several oral presentations related to seafood quality and safety topics.

John Besser has been the Deputy Chief of the Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch at the CDC since July 2009, where he has been involved in national and global programs to detect, characterize, and track enteric infectious diseases. Between 1990 and 2009 he managed the Clinical Laboratory at the Minnesota Department of Health, where he directed infectious disease activities and presided over the development of numerous innovative laboratory-based surveillance programs. He has been actively involved in development of PulseNet, and serves on committees and workgroups for the Association of Public Health Laboratories, Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR), American Society for Microbiology, and CDC. John received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees from the University of Minnesota, and is author or coauthor of over 85 journal articles, published abstracts, and book chapters, including a chapter in the ASM Manual of Clinical Microbiology.

Peter Gerner-Smidt has been chief of EDLB since 2006. He is chairman of the PulseNet International Steering committee and a member of the WHO Global Foodborne Infections network steering committee. Before moving to the United States in 2004, he was the Head of the Danish Reference Centre for Enteric Pathogens and Listeria at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen from 1995 and was involved in revamping and running national and European surveillance systems for bacterial foodborne infections. He was a member of the coordinating group for the Danish Zoonosis Centre and Danish representative in EnterNet, the European network for surveillance of Salmonella, VTEC and Campylobacter 1995- 2004 serving on the steering committee from 2001- 2004. He was the first coordinator of PulseNet Europe, the European network for molecular surveillance of foodborne infections. His research interests are the epidemiology, including subtyping and identification of foodborne, zoonotic and enteric bacterial pathogens including STEC. He has co-authored more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and text book chapters, the majority dealing with bacterial taxonomy, identification, epidemiology, and subtyping.

Dr. Sharaf Omar currently works at Al-Balqa Applied University, Jordan as an Assistant Professor of Food Microbiology and Safety. Dr Sharaf is a member of Jordanian Society for Food and Nutrition. She completed her Ph.D. degree in Food Microbiology and Safety at Jordan University in 2003. She spent over 8 years as faculty member at the Dept. of Nutrition and Food Science at Mutah University, Jordan and Al-Balqa Applied University, Jordan.

Dr. Sharaf is teaching Food Microbiology, Food Safety and Hygiene and Food Biotechnology courses for B.Sc. and M.Sc. students. She conducts research in the field of Food Microbiology and Safety with a focus on safety of street foods and medicinal plants applications as antibacterial and antifungal. Her current research focuses on Mycotoxins and their detection in foods. She has published several scientific papers and gave several oral presentations in food safety topics.

Erica is Senior Lecturer in Environmental Health (Food Safety) at “University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) where she works alongside internationally renowned HACCP expert ‘Dr Carol Wallace’ delivering the three year MSc in ‘Food Safety Management’ by eLearn. Erica is module leader for the Foodborne Disease, Allergen Management and International Food Law modules and is course leader on the full time MSc in Food Quality and Safety Management.

Prior to joining academia, Erica was Technical Director of ‘Castle Kitchens Limited,’ a UK based food manufacturing company involved primarily in the development and manufacture of an extensive range of special dietary requirement meals for the retail, healthcare and aviation sectors. Whilst working full time in this role, Erica designed and project managed the technical aspects of the build of Europe’s first allergen free ready meal factory in 2006.

Erica is a qualified B.R.C Third Party auditor and is also a Director of Food Safety and Health Services for ‘Global Food Standards’, a food safety management consultancy offering a wide range of services to all types of food businesses in respect of the development and implementation of food safety management systems.

Erica has written extensively on the subject of food safety in travel and tourism and her first book ‘Aviation Food Safety’, was published in 2005 by ‘Wiley/Blackwell.’ Her previous publications include ‘Your Passport To Food Safety,’ a food safety training manual for cabin crew and ‘In-flight Food Safety Passenger Health & You,’ a cabin crew food safety training programme certified by ‘The Royal Institute Of Public Health.’

Erica has acted as a technical advisor to IATA (The International Air Transport Association) ICAO (The International Civil Aviation Authority) NBAA (The National Business Aviation Association) and Airbus in Hamburg. She is a member of the ‘IATA Special Meal Task Force’ and is re-writing the food section of the Guide to Hygiene and Sanitation in Aviation for the WHO.

Erica’s research interests include the application of food safety-based risk management techniques to other high risk sectors and the impact of food law enforcement practices on small food businesses.

Erica is a Fellow of The Institute of food Science and Technology and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public health.

Tim Ahn is the Mars Incorporated Chocolate Segment Quality & Food Safety Director, where he is responsible for quality assurance and food safety for the Mars global chocolate business. In 1987 Tim joined Mars Incorporated where he has held various positions of increasing responsibility in process engineering, manufacturing, technical services, and quality assurance. Tim has a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware and is a member of the American Society for Quality. Tim was responsible for developing the Mars global allergen management standard and its implementation within the chocolate and confectionary business.

Dr. Moez SANAA has worked in National Veterinary School of Alfort (France) 1993 − 2009 as Professor of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Risk Analysis, but has left this University September 2009 to take up a position as Deputy Head of Risk Assessment Methodology at ANSES (French Agency For Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety). He has a Veterinary Medicine degree as well as a Ph.D. from the University of Paris XI, France. His research activities include animal epidemiology, food safety, risk assessment methodology and risk analysis. He was involved in several research projects related to the risk associated to Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, EHEC, and Campylobacter in dairy and meat products; and to animal diseases management. In addition to applied research activities, Dr. SANAA was involved in different projects related to risk assessment and management methodologies and tools including mathematical modeling in food microbiology and in public health, advanced statistical analysis tools, and data and knowledge management system development.

Dr. SANAA has developed a set of risk assessment tools for industry, government and food safety authorities. This gives him a large perspective of food safety issues from different points of view: researcher, expert at national and international levels, consultant for food industries, and organization of collective scientific expertise…

Dr SANAA is a member of EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) Animal Health and Animal Welfare expert panel since 2006. He participated and Chaired several working groups and is coauthor of more than fifteen EFSA scientific reports and opinions.

Since 2002, Dr. SANAA organizes several international workshops on microbial risk assessment and mitigation that involved overall more than 600 participants from more than 30 different nationalities.

Dr. Youssef received his Ph.D. in Microbiology in1987 from the Université de Paris-Sud, Paris, France. He spent over 15 years as faculty member at the Dept. of Biology, Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan teaching and conducting research in the field of medical microbiology.

Dr. Youssef spent several years as Guest researcher in laboratories Paris, France and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, and trained on use of conventional and molecular techniques for the surveillance and diagnosis of enteric pathogens.

Since 2002, Dr. Youssef works for the WHO Lyon Office for National Epidemic Preparedness and Response, in Lyon, France. The Laboratory Team within Lyon Office works in collaboration with WHO Regional and Country Offices, Member States and national and international stakeholders for strengthening capacities of national public health laboratories and the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005).

Currently Dr. Prakash is the Distinguished Scientist of CSIR and President of the Nutrition Society of India and Chairman of the panel on Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and has a major responsibility to link the policies of Govt., Science based Regulatory protocols, Food Safety and Standards with a view of Global Harmonization (Founder Council Member of GHI). He has more than 200 Research Papers, 4 Books as author, 20 Review Chapters and has guided a large number of Ph.D’s and Master’s students. He is recognized with a number of Academy Fellowships Nationally and Internationally and is a Fellow of the IFT, USA and Royal Society of Chemistry, UK and he is highly sought after for his Global networking in the area of Food Safety and Nutritionals and Nutraceuticals. The industry has recognized him word wide with a number of awards including the DuPont Protein Technologies International Award and India’s one of the highest civilian Award Padmashree is bestowed on him.

Courage Kosi Setsoafia Saba is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain under the supervision of Prof. Bruno González-Zorn. He completed his BSc. degree in Agricultural Technology with an option in Animal Science from the University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale, Ghana and later obtained his MSc. in Veterinary Research from the Complutense University, Madrid. He was one of the receivers of the IAFP student travel scholarship to attend the 2011 IAFP meeting in Wisconsin, USA, where he presented part of his project work.

Mr. Saba is currently working on the molecular characterization of isolated bacteria (Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium) from foods, animals and humans from the Northern Region of Ghana to establish whether there is fecal contamination of street foods and the sources of transmission of antibiotic resistant genes as well as their mechanisms of resistance. He is due to defend his Ph.D. thesis in 2012. His Ph.D. fellowship is from the Spanish government and the Complutense Univesity, Madrid.

Dr. Isabel Walls is the National Program Leader for Epidemiology of Food Safety at USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, where she manages a competitive grants program and provides leadership in food safety activities. In addition, Dr. Walls serves as the Chair of the US Government Interagency Risk Assessment Consortium, a forum for enhanced communication and coordination among federal agencies that develop and utilize food safety risk assessments; and serves as a technical expert to the US Trade Representative’s Subcommittee on Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC), which is developing capacity building activities to ensure the safety of the food supply and facilitate trade within the APEC region.

Dr. Walls was a member of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene Working Group on Salmonella and Campylobacter in Poultry and a peer reviewer for the FAO/WHO Food Safety Risk Analysis Guide for National Authorities. Recent activities include chairing a US Government-sponsored workshop in Nicaragua on establishing microbiological criteria for food moving in international trade; and giving a keynote presentation at the China International Food Safety Conference, in Shanghai, China, in 2010.

Dr. Walls has worked for industry, government and the non-profit sector. This gives her a perspective of food safety issues from a variety of viewpoints. She has done laboratory research for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, where she developed predictive mathematical models for microbial growth, for use in risk assessments. She was a Senior Scientist at the International Life Sciences Institute, where she managed expert panels on projects related to Listeria monocytogenes and toxicology. She was a Senior Scientist with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, where she did vulnerability assessments to protect the food supply from deliberate contamination, and worked for USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, providing scientific advice on food safety issues that have an impact on international trade.

Dr. Walls obtained her Ph.D. in Food Microbiology from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland and has postdoctoral experience from the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

Dr. Walls currently serves as President of the International Association for Food Protection.

Gordon has over 25 years experience in the food industry having worked in food manufacturing, food safety and auditing in both the private and public sector as well as in academia and is currently the Technical Director (Agri-Food) for QMI-SAI Global, based in Toronto, Canada, where his remit covers all of the Americas.

Gordon has extensive knowledge of the food industry worldwide and has worked in auditing/certification since 1988. Gordon was involved at the launch of EFSIS and has subsequently audited all sectors covered by the BRC food standard. Gordon is one of only 10 Approved Training Providers (ATP’s) worldwide that the BRC appointed to assist with the roll out of Issue 6 of the Global Standard for Food Safety. He trains both Auditors and other ATP’s.

In addition to being a graduate Food Technologist, Gordon has a MSc. in Food Safety & Control and an LLM. in Food Law. He also has additional qualifications and training in HACCP, Auditing, Food Defense and a variety of ISO standards, having worked as a lead assessor for both the 9000 and 22000 standards.

Gordon has published and presented his PhD research both in the UK and internationally and was previously a Senior Lecturer at The University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), where he taught both undergraduates and postgraduates in the fields of food science and technology, environmental health and trading standards. He is passionate about education and training.

Amongst his many affiliations, Gordon is a Fellow and Chartered Scientist of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Member of the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland and a member of both the Food and Drugs Law Institute and the European Food Law Association. Gordon was the founder and first President of the United Kingdom Association for Food Protection, the first non North American affiliate of the International Association for Food Protection.

Dr. Walid Alali is an Assistant Professor of Food Safety Epidemiology at the University of Georgia (UGA), USA. He earned a Veterinary Medicine degree at Jordon University of Science & Technology in 2000, an M.S. degree in Epidemiology with food microbiology training at Kansas State University in 2003, and a Ph.D. degree in Epidemiology at Texas A&M University in 2007. Dr. Alali joined the UGA-Center for Food Safety in 2008. His current research is focused on pre- and post-harvest food safety including interventions aimed at controlling foodborne pathogens in food, particularly poultry products. Dr. Alali enjoys conducting research internationally. He was able to establish baseline survey projects on Salmonella on raw poultry in several emerging poultry market countries, in collaboration with WHO-GFN. He has published 15 refereed scientific journal articles, 2 book chapters, 10 invited talks, and more than 25 scientific abstracts.

Patrick Wall is Professor of Public Health in University College Dublin’s School of Public Health and Population Sciences (http://www.ucd.ie/phps) which hosts the National Nutrition Surveillance Centre (http://www.nnsc.ie) His research interests include food borne diseases, lifestyle related diseases and health damaging consumer behaviour. He is involved in several research projects currently being undertaken focused on lifestyle related disease, in both young people and adults.

He teaches both Veterinary, Medical and Food Science undergraduate and postgraduate students. He is a co-director of the UCD Centre for Behaviour and Health. (http://geary.ucd.ie/behaviour) and a member of the UCD Institute for Food and Health (http://www.ucd.ie/foodandhealth/).

He was the first Chief Executive of the Irish Food Safety Authority (FSAI) and contributed to the setting up of this science based consumer protection agency (http://www.fsai.ie) created partly in response to the BSE crisis with a role to restore consumer confidence in safety of the food supply and in the ability of the regulators to adequately police the food chain. He was the second Chairperson of the European Food Safety Authority, a pan EU Agency with a remit is to “To provide comprehensive scientific advice on food safety for the entire food and feed supply chains and issues directly impacting on these such as animal welfare, animal health and plant health”. http://www.efsa.europa.eu. He was one of seven non Chinese nationals on the committee overseeing food safety arrangements for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

He is the leader of a major pan EU Research project looking at optimum approaches to risk and benefit communication in the health sphere http://www.foodrisc.org/

He was a member of the FSAI crisis management team convened to deal with the 2008 Irish dioxin contamination incident, which resulted in a global recall of Irish pork products, and he was the Chairperson of the Irish Government’s enquiry into the incident.

He was the chairperson of the UK Food Standards Agency’s Advisory Body for the Delivery of Official Controls http://www.food.gov.uk/ overseeing the transformation of aspects of their meat inspection service. www.food.gov.uk/foodindustry/meat/mhservice/

He qualified in Veterinary Medicine in University College Dublin, in Human Medicine in Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and in addition he has an MSc in Infectious Diseases from the University of London and an MBA from the Michael Smurfit School of Business UCD. He is a Diplomat of the European College of Veterinary Public Health and a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health Medicine.

Dr. Douglas Powell is a professor of food safety at Kansas State University. Trained in molecular biology, and employed as a journalist, Dr. Powell found that food safety was a discipline where he could meld his interests in science, society and policy -- more formally known as risk analysis. So he got a PhD in food science from the University of Guelph in 1996.

His laboratory seeks innovative ways to compel everyone in the farm-to-fork food safety system -- individual producers, retail employees, and consumers, among others -- to acknowledge and adopt best practices to reduce the risk of foodborne illness.

He publishes the electronic newsletter bites.ksu.edu, and barfblog.com. Powell and barfblog.com are a primary source for food safety information during outbreaks and are often quoted in mainstream media reports (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Powell_(food_safety)). He teaches courses in food safety risk analysis, policy, communications and culture, has served on national and international food safety advisory boards, and works with a lot of graduate students. A native of Brantford, Ontario (that’s in Canada), Doug is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey.

Caroline Smith DeWaal is the director of the food safety program for the Center for Science in the Public Interest and President of the International Association of Consumer Food Organizations, which represents consumer interests at Codex Alimentarius. Ms. DeWaal is the leading consumer analyst on laws and regulations governing food safety, and she has testified more than twenty times on pending food safety issues before the United States Congress. She also maintains and publishes a listing of foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States organized by food source. She has presented papers on food safety at over 100 scientific and public policy conferences and co-authored Is Our Food Safe? A Consumer’s Guide to Protecting Your Health and the Environment.

She has participated in a number of World Health Organization consultations on food safety and is currently an expert advisor on its Integrated Surveillance of Antibiotic Resistance project. She is also participating on a number of government-directed working groups on implementation of the new FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. DeWaal graduated from the University of Vermont and Antioch School of Law. She has taught university classes and courses on national and global food issues. A native of Vermont, and now a resident of Maryland, DeWaal lives with her husband and two children outside of Washington, D.C.

Dr. S K Saxena, at present is Director-Export Inspection Council (EIC) at Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, an official export certification body and Competent Authority.

He is a well known Food Safety & Food Laboratory expert and possesses Doctorate in Analytical Chemistry. He has rich experience of more than 25 years at national and international level in the areas of food safety, food regulations, conformity assessment, inspection & certification, laboratory accreditation including administration.

Prior to joining EIC, Dr. Saxena was the Director of National Analytical Laboratory at National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) at Anand, Gujarat. He was associated with United Nations Organizations such as FAO, UNIDO and WHO in the capacity of independent expert and served in 25 developing and least developing countries on short term assignments.

He is a member of Joint FAO/WHO experts committee on Food Additives (JECFA) since 2003. He is also presently chairman of scientific panel of “Sampling and Methods of Analysis” and member of Scientific Committee at Food Safety and Satndards Authority of India FSSAI.

He has published 20 research papers in the journals of international repute, contributed in three books on food analysis published by CRC press New York. He has received All India Food Processors Association Presidents’ special Award-1999 and Dr. J S Pruthi Award (Gold Medal) 2010.

Donald Sharp is currently the Deputy Director, Food Safety Office, at the CDC. He has been with the Office since 2002 and has been involved in numerous activities related to assessing and building food safety surveillance and foodborne disease outbreak response capacity at the local, state, federal, and international levels. He is currently heavily involved in CIFOR (the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response) and in providing training to local and state health departments on foodborne disease outbreak response. Dr. Sharp received BS and MD degrees from Tulane University and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from Mahidol University in Bangkok. Dr. Sharp practiced in family medicine, occupational health clinics, and worked for several years with refugees in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. He joined the CDC in 1992 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer and completed the CDC Preventive Medicine Residency in 1995.

Richard Sprenger joined Highfield.co.uk Ltd as Managing Director in 1999 following a successful career in local government. He has specialized in food safety since qualifying as an environmental health officer in 1973. He became director of a multidisciplinary department in a large metropolitan authority at the age of 38.

Professor Griffith was brought up in an hotel before obtaining a BSc and PhD in Microbiology from Liverpool University.  This was followed by work in the USA, Sweden and then Cardiff.  He has lectured on aspects of medical and food microbiology for over 25 years and been involved in food safety research for 20 years. 

He has been awarded numerous international awards, including a New Zealand ESR international research fellowship in 1999,  a Welsh National Assembly Award in 2002 and the IAFP International Leadership  award in 2006  He  is a visiting research fellow and invited speaker in Europe, the USA and the far East, is a member of a range of national and international  food safety committees and has been involved internationally  in food safety training and consultancy.

He is editor of the British Food Journal and has authored / co-authored more than 380 books, book chapters, scientific papers and conference proceedings relating to food safety. These include the How To series of books, How To Clean – A Management Guide, How To HACCP 3rd Edition and How to Audit

He is currently Head of the Food Research and Consultancy Unit (FRCU) in the Cardiff  School of Health  Sciences at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC) and is involved with food safety at all points within the food chain.  This includes food manufacturers, food service and the consumer.  He works with a multidisciplinary team including microbiologists, sociologists, psychologists and home economists using a wide range of traditional and novel approaches in studying food handling, food safety systems and improving the microbiological quality of food. 

Prof. Joanne Zaida Taylor is a HACCP specialist at the International Centre for HACCP Innovation, University of Salford. She has a BSc. in Psychology, a HACCP PGCert, and has carried out a PhD on the development and psychological evaluation of a new approach to HACCP for the hospitality industry (Menu-Safe).

Professor Hegarty has B.Sc and M.Sc degrees in Biochemistry and a BA degree in Economics from the National University of Ireland; a Ph.D in Human Nutrition, University of London. He held academic and administrative positions at the University of Minnesota, University of Houston, Michigan State University. Recently he was Dean, College of Food and Agriculture, United Arab Emirates University. He held Adjunct Professor appointments at the University of Guelph and the University of Texas.  He has taken sabbatical leaves to universities in Jamaica, Zimbabwe, Ireland and at Zayed University (UAE).

He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology. His consultancies include: Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA), WHO/FAO, USAID, USDA, National Institute of Health (USA) and many food companies. Presently he is Team Leader in a USAID-funded project assisting in the establishment of a food safety agency in Egypt. He founded the Institute for Food Laws and Regulations at Michigan State University. Its distance education program has students from over 80 countries; in 2003 it won the American Distance Education Consortium's Excellence Award for Distance Education.   

David Tharp serves as Executive Director at the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) with offices located in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. David began his association career in 1993 as the Director of Finance and Administration with a promotion to Executive Director taking place in 1997.

David has served on the board of directors for many food safety related organizations including the 3-A Sanitary Standards, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, the Partnership for Food Safety Education and is currently serving on the UL Environmental and Public Health Council. His degree in Business Administration was earned from Drake University with a major in Accounting. In addition, David is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and achieved the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation from the American Society of Association Executives.

Anil is a Commerce Graduate from Mumbai, India and has a Post-Graduation degree in Supply Chain Management. He has spent almost 11 years with Kraft Foods, mainly in the Customer Service & Logistics function, managing distributor's Supply Chain Processes in the Middle East. In his current position he is responsible for assuring the Business Unit and third party activities affecting Quality and Safety of Products, Packaging, Premiums & Promotions comply with local regulations as well as with Kraft Foods Quality Chain Management System. He is also a trained Warehouse Auditor and responsible for continuous improvement in execution and efficiency of Business Unit processes in order to meet Customer & Consumer expectations.

Also a certified Six Sigma Green Belt and ISO 22000, 28000 Internal Auditor.

Professor Eunice Taylor is food safety management specialist with over 35 years of experience in education, training, consultancy and research specialising in the application of HACCP in small businesses. She is currently employed as a Food Safety Policy Specialist with the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) with a remit to develop appropriate food safety management solutions for the catering industry. This also involves training and preparing ADFCA inspectors for their new role as auditors of food safety management systems.

Eunice developed the world’s first MSc in Food Safety Management at the University of Central Lancashire in 1998. In 2001 she moved to the University of Salford with UK Government funding to establish an International Centre for HACCP Innovation with the subsequent development of e-learning MSc’s in HACCP for Manufacturing, Meat Industry, Agronomy, Food Service & Catering. In 2008 she brought these programs to the UAE and the first cohort of students are due to graduate with an MSc in HACCP this year from the Higher College of Technology.

Eunice is involved in various Expert Panels in the commercial sector and numerous consultancy projects for the World Tourism Organisation, World Health Organisation and Food & Agriculture Organisation of the UN. She represented the International Federation of Environment Health at the Codex Food Hygiene Committee for many years and was a member of the Codex working group on ‘HACCP Implementation in Small and Less Developed Businesses (SDLBs)’ and ‘Validation’.

Eunice has worked directly with the governments of the UK, Thailand, Sharjah, Dubai and Honduras to draft food safety legislation and support the implementation of food safety training, management and HACCP.

In preparation for the European 2006 HACCP requirements, Eunice led a large UK Food Standards Agency (66 million AED ) project that created a new method of HACCP for small catering businesses: Safer Food Better Business (SFBB). This methodology is now used in many countries worldwide and is seen as the most innovative development in HACCP since its inception in the 1950s.