Speakers

Hannah is a regulatory affairs expert with over 15 years experience in developing veterinary, animal feed and food products for regulatory approval in the EU and other global markets.​ She is passionate about alternative proteins and helping companies navigate the complex regulatory requirements needed for regulatory approval.

Hannes is a biotechnologist by training, with knowledge in microbiology and plant biotechnology. He has over 5 years of regulatory experience in areas ranging from plant protection products and biostimulants to food and animal feed. Hannes has worked on several alternative protein dossiers in the EU, including applications for plant protein isolates and mycelial biomasses.

Ana is a veterinarian specialised in parasitology and has worked for more than 5 five years in food and feed regulatory affairs, leading projects for the approval of microbial products and ingredients produced by precision fermentation.

Rosalía is a biotechnologist with over 5 years’ experience in food and feed regulations. She has extensive experience with novel food registrations and has worked on plant based, fermentation, precision fermentation and cell cultured meat projects.

Hans has over 39 years of experience in food safety and nutrition. He is a certified toxicologist and nutritionist. He worked at Universities (Nijmegen, Maastricht, Ulster, Copenhagen), in contract research (TNO), in industry (Unilever), for the national government (RIVM), and EFSA from 2015-2020. From 2006-2015 he was a member of the EFSA-NDA panel, working on health claims and novel foods. He is a professor at the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland) and at the Technical University Denmark (DTU, Denmark). Since 2020, he is owner and consultant of Food Safety & Nutrition Consultancy in the Netherlands

Hélène specializes in feed and food production methods to rethink models that are more sustainable. She trained for six years in Asia (Malaysia, India, etc.) with the ambition of proposing a more efficient and environmentally friendly agricultural model thanks to a reduction in the use of antibiotics. She supported companies on regulatory affairs in Asia to promote probiotics solutions. Very quickly, she identified the opportunity represented by alternative proteins, and joined the Entofood team (by Veolia), within which she ensured the scaling up of insect farms. Convinced that these alternative proteins are a sustainable solution to our current diet, she co-founded the company Bon Vivant, with Stéphane Mac Millan (ex.McKinsey).

Ida is an expert in the field of Regulatory Affairs having ~10 years of experience from both the food and the pharma industry. As a Senior Regulatory Affairs Specialist at Solar Foods, a food tech company producing food from thin air, she plays a key role in ensuring regulatory compliance and approvals for the company's novel food products. In her work, she oversees compliance, strategy, and implementation when she navigates the regulatory landscape and paves the way for successful regulatory approvals.

Jordi is an experienced biotechnologist specializing in bioprocess automation, bioreactors, and cultivated products. Jordi serves as the CTO at Cultimate Foods and is co-founder of AgriCultura Celular where he drives innovation and sustainability in the food industry. Additionally, he dedicates his time to mentoring aspiring professionals and as an enthusiastic advocate of FoodTech as FoodHack Ambassador. His ultimate goal is to eliminate animals from the food chain by promoting scientific and technological innovation.

Megumi Avigail Yoshitomi is the Representative Director of the Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA). JACA is an industrial group based in Japan, to focus on policy-making to make food products produced by cellular-agriculture technology sellable in Japan. JACA has c.50 membership companies, mainly domestic food and industrial majors, but also includes overseas players such as Aleph Farms and Upside Foods. JACA communicates with Ministries, politicians, existing meat industry players, consumer organizations, and various business operators who are interested in this area. JACA is the administrator of the "Cellular Agriculture Working Team" under the Food-tech Public-Private Council, hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. Megumi is one of the advisory boards for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s strategy to promote the biotechnology industry in Japan. Megumi is awarded Forbes Japan 30 Under 30 in 2020.

Tom is Head of Chemical Safety Policy at the Food Standards Agency. The FSA’s mission is ‘food you can trust’ and by this we mean food is safe, food is what it says it is, and food is healthier and more sustainable. Tom’s remit includes novel foods and genetic technology, as well as chemical contaminants, food additives and food contact materials.

Jo leads the Thematic Research and Corporate Innovation team and has oversight of FAIRR’s technical research and engagement efforts. She provides strategic direction to the development of bespoke and collaborative engagements as well as research across themes impacting the food and agriculture sector including biodiversity, AMR, climate and dietary transitions. Jo also works closely with investor members to develop and integrate sustainable food systems as a key priority into stewardship strategies. Prior to this, she was an Assistant-Manager at KPMG UK in their Investment Management and Funds Team, advising investment managers on risk management as well as working cross- functionally with the Sustainability Team on climate change risk for private equity firms. Jo began her career with Alliance Trust as an analyst.

Nicolas Morin-Forest is CEO and co-founder of GOURMEY, a European leading cultivated meat company based in Paris, creating sustainable meat delights from state-of-the-art cell cultivation techniques combined with culinary arts. Nicolas has a background at the crossroads of consumer goods companies (L'Oréal) and the nonprofit sector (several environmental organizations) as he was involved in several development aid missions, particularly in Latin America around the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices. Nicolas is a Science Po Paris graduate.

Karin represents AXON Lawyers from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She is a life sciences lawyer with a focus on functional foods, feed and pharmaceuticals operating on an EU wide basis. Her core expertise is to assist companies regarding the market introduction of innovations in this field, with a particular focus on alternative protein. This includes the qualification of new ingredients and advising on the appropriate regulatory pathway belonging thereto, such as for Novel Foods, GMOs and the like. Karin is familiar with the authorities supervising these types of products and assists in enforcement actions when needed. Karin furthermore drafts and negotiates a variety of commercial contracts in her field of expertise and litigates where need may be. She reports current EU food legal and regulatory developments at www.foodhealthlegal.eu.

John is the Programme Manager at the Alternative Proteins Association, one of the largest of its kind in Europe, designed to promote the value of alternative proteins in the UK. The APA aims to tackle the challenges of food insecurity, climate change, and intensive farming by helping the UK become a world leader in alternative proteins and inspiring collective action.  John was previously Engineer in Net Zero Energy at Arup & Partners delivering projects, working with stakeholders including energy and finance companies, local government, universities and the PM’s Business Council. He also brings experience working as a Policy Advisor at DEFRA, working on technical iGEM synthetic biology research project and serving on the Gen Z Advisory Board at Aleph Farms. He holds a first class masters degree in Engineering (MEng) from the University of Exeter and has a passion for alternative proteins, even founding his own alternative protein company during university!

Hanna L. Tuomisto is a professor in sustainable food systems at the University of Helsinki and at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). She leads the Future Sustainable Food Systems -research group at the University of Helsinki. Tuomisto’s research interests are focused on the development of sustainability assessment methods and estimating the potential of different approaches (e.g. emerging food technologies, dietary change and agroecological farming) to improve the sustainability of food systems. She has a strong experience in the development and use of environmental sustainability assessment methods, such as life cycle assessment and carbon footprinting. Tuomisto is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field environmental sustainability assessment of cell-cultured food (e.g. cultured meat) production technologies. She is one of the few researchers with over 14 years of experience in the field of cellular agriculture. Tuomisto holds an MSc degree in Agroecology from the University of Helsinki and a doctoral degree from the University of Oxford. She gained postdoctoral research experience at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

Dana’s key focus at the Jeremy Coller Foundation is advocating for protein diversification within UK and international food and agricultural policies as part of a shift towards a more sustainable food system. More broadly, the Foundation is a philanthropic NGO aiming to address the animal welfare, environmental and human health issues caused by intensive animal agriculture through strategic grant-making, the Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR) Initiative and Coller Animal Law Forum (CALF). Prior to joining the Foundation, Dana worked within UK Government as part of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), focusing on communications and engagement around animal health and welfare policy in England.  Dana holds a first-class degree in Chemistry (MChem), specialising in materials science, from The University of Durham and an MPhil in Textiles and Apparel from The University of Manchester, where her research focused on cell-cultivated leather. She is a co-author on ‘Leather-like materials by cellular agriculture’ in Textile Progress based upon this work.

Anna Handschuh provides almost two decades of experience in sustainability strategy and corporate innovation.  After co-founding pioneering sustainable bank and impact investor Triodos Bank in Germany, she joined the leading Swiss based future research think tank Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute in Zurich. Prior to her role for Onego Bio as their Head of Public Affairs and Impact, she had her own consultancy practice focused on impact driven innovation and lead the tech incubator YES! Delft Rotterdam as their managing director. She also publishes at the interface of policy and sustainability innovation, served at the Advisory Board of the Economic Symposium of the European Forum Alpbach and is the policy lead of newly founded Food Fermentation Europe.

Alex Holst is a Senior Policy Manager at the Good Food Institute Europe, an international nonprofit organisation helping to build a more sustainable, secure and just food system. Since joining GFI in 2019, he has been working with EU policymakers on public R&D funding, regulatory approval, and labelling of plant-based, fermentation-made, and cultivated meat, eggs, dairy, and seafood. Alex is based in Brussels, Belgium.

Mathilde Do Chi is a food law consultant specialized in international alternative protein regulations. She has worked across the board both in the public and private sectors, namely for law firms, an IP consultancy, the FAO of the UN, the French and Japanese governments, vegan certification organisations, a food multinational (ADM), and a public affairs consultancy. Thanks to her international and multidisciplinary expertise, she is able to tackle a wide array of topics from different perspectives ranging from novel foods, fair competition, consumer protection, environmental labelling, food law training, marketing strategy, and advice on entering new markets. She's also committed to making food regulations more accessible to non-lawyers on LinkedIn where she regularly posts about them.

Floor Buitelaar is a Managing Partner and co-founder at Bright Green Partners, the global alternative protein consulting firm. She is an accomplished leader in alternative proteins, and has directed 25+ projects for global clients like Ajinomoto and Kraft Heinz within the alternative protein industry. She is also a sought-after conference speaker, sharing her insights on industry trends, challenges and opportunities and an honoree of Forbes 30Under30 2023 European Manufacturing & Industry list.

Ira van Eelen is the cofounder and CEO of KindEarth.Tech and the cofounder of RESPECT farms as well as being a board member of Cellulaire Agricultuur Nederland With her legacy as the daughter of The Godfather of Cultured Meat “Willem van Eelen” and the largest network in this field, Ira supports innovation through KindEarth.Tech and lets you embrace the huge potential of this future foods industry .... that is here today. All routes, small, medium and large will play an important role in getting it to our plates for many to enjoy, therefore she finds it important to take the role agriculture can play into account with RESPECTfarms. Her passions for design, software system integration, preventive oral health care and educating teenagers are important elements in her life’s journey.

Regulatory Affairs Division Manager at Sher Consulting and Training - Israel’s leading provider of consulting and training services for the food sector in Israel including Keren is a food and biotechnology engineer and has 9 years of experience in local and international regulatory affairs, including vast experience with various companies for which she provides regulatory reviews, product labeling, food regulation compliance check, expert opinions, food and novel food registration, and more. Keren has experience with novel food registrations and has worked on food supplements, plant-based, genetically modified, fermentation, and cell-cultured products.

Kimberly Ong is a safety and regulatory consultant working at Vireo Advisors. She supports the safe commercialization of innovative products that support sustainable development. Kim helps companies navigate the unique regulatory and safety challenges of novel products, including cultured meat and seafood. She strongly believes in the power of collaboration. She has helped create and manage partnerships and collaborative efforts between industry, government, academia, and non-profit organizations to work toward the safe and efficient commercialization of groundbreaking products. Kim served as a Working Group Vice-Chair of the 2022 FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Food Safety Aspects of Cell-Based Food. As part of the New Harvest/Vireo Cultured Meat Safety Initiative, she is part of a team interviewing and holding workshops to support needed safety research to improve consumer and regulatory confidence. Kim received a a M.Sc. in Environmental Management and Policy from Lund University in Sweden and a Ph.D. in Physiology, Cell, and Developmental Biology from the University of Alberta.

Luísa holds a MSc in Biotechnology from the Technical University of Lisbon (Portugal), which took her to DSM (The Netherlands) where she began her industrial career while writing her master's thesis, in 2006. Following a year of experience as a researcher at the pilot unit of IBET and the Bioengineering group at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Luísa returned to the Netherlands where she got a PhD degree in Bioprocess Technology from Delft University of Technology. This was followed by 9 years of experience at Corbion in the Netherlands. She joined in 2013 as a Fermentation Scientist and carried out a variety of roles, such as technical management of USP projects, team leader of Process Design and Data Science teams, and Competitive Intelligence & Market Insights manager. Luísa joined MicroHarvest in January 2022 as co-founder and CTO, driven by the passion to bring different disciplines together to solve current challenges of our food system.

Rocío Duchén (MSc) is a chemist, with experience in research, technical translation and consulting. Rocío has worked in research fields including biochemistry, natural products and food additives, as well as in the development and validation of analytical methods. She is currently a Senior Regulatory Affairs Manager at Pen & Tec Consulting (part of the Argenta Global Group) and, since her incorporation in 2017, she has broadened her experience on dossier preparation and study monitoring for the registration of food and feed EU regulated products, including technological and zootechnical feed additives, renewals, food additive applications and novel food consultations. Her day-to-day experience in the EU regulatory context gives her the chance to keep up to date on the latest updates to the food law, authorities’ procedures, guidance documents and newest online tools available for applicants willing to register their products in the EU.

Ing. Justyna Pałasińska holds a Master in Food Technology and Human Nutrition, specialising in meat production, as well as a degree in Biomedical Engineering. Since joining Pen & Tec in 2013, Justyna has gained experience in managing both food and feed projects such as novel foods, nutrition and health claims, food for special medical purposes, food supplements and feed additives, including amino acids, bacteriophages, enzymes and plant derived products. She has also worked on projects for the US market, through FAP, GRAS determination and NDI notification. Justyna is currently managing and developing the food department of Pen & Tec.

Robert is Vice President of Global Public Affairs at Mosa Meat, the Dutch food technology startup that pioneered the first cell-cultured beef in the world. He also serves as President of Cellular Agriculture Europe, a Brussels-based industry association representing 12 companies working to bring cellular agriculture food products to consumers. He has 24 years of experience in public policy, advocacy, and international affairs. Robert holds Masters' degrees in Political Management from The George Washington University and in Social Business & Entrepreneurship from the London School of Economics. He is also a classically trained chef graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.

Nick Bradley is the editor of Protein Production Technology International, the globally distributed B2B magazine focused on the technologies and strategies to accelerate and commercialise alternative proteins. Over a career spanning 28 years, Nick has edited magazines covering numerous design, engineering and technology topics, but in recent years has focused more on sustainability, in areas such as plastic waste reduction, hydrogen, electronic waste, transportation, and supply chain/logistics.

Alessio is the CEO & Co-Founder of Forward Fooding, the world’s first collaborative platform for the food & beverage industry fostering innovation via FoodTech Data Intelligence and corporate-startup collaboration. He now works with F&B companies of all sizes and investors to support them with understanding how AgriFoodTech innovation can be used to create a more sustainable future of food.

Peter Yu is the Program Director at the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture – an association and coalition of 10+ cultivated meat and seafood companies across the APAC region. Through the society, Peter works as a drive-force to both promote the industry as well as to encourage the establishment efficient and transparent regulations and policies. Peter is actively engaging towards creating a harmonized cultivated food industry, and have experience in driving various of industry moving projects across the globe. Peter is the Chair of the Enterprise Singapore committee for setting Novel food standards, and has been a convener for the first MoU regarding regional Nomenclature alignment in Asia. Moreover, Peter was appointed as a technical expert to FAO/WHO on safety guidelines for the industry. Currently Peter is the instigator and convener of APAC regional coordination forum. Peter holds dual Masters’ degrees (MBA + Bioengineering) and pursuing a third in Law.

Tobias Skovbjerg Gräs has worked on the climate – agriculture – landscape nexus for 14 years, addressing it from different perspectives within multilateral institutions, government, and civil society. Representing the Farmers’ constituency at UNFCCC COPs since 2013, Gräs – as part of the World Farmers Organization – has worked to enhance the role of farmers’ and farmers’ owned cooperatives in global climate action. As Counsel to the Cooperative Partnership for Climate Smart Food and Forestry, which joins the farming and cooperative organisations of Finland, Denmark and The Netherlands and the Dutch Agri- development agency Agriterra in a collaboration with FAO, Gräs is engaged in the development of Green Climate Fund projects in East Africa. Tobias Skovbjerg Gräs is Senior Policy Advisor at the Danish Agriculture and Food Council in Brussels, and a postgraduate student in Global Business at Saïd Business School; he holds an MSc in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen, an MA in European Studies from the College of Europe, and a Diploma in Organizational Leadership from the Technical University of Denmark. Gräs previously served as Climate Attaché at the Danish EU Representation, and as Information Officer in the European Commission.

Dr. Adeline Yong is a Scientist from the Risk Assessment and Communication Department at the National Centre for Food Science of the Singapore Food Agency. She completed her Ph.D. from the School of Biological Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore where she focused on microbial interactions in biofilms as well as study the antimicrobial resistance of pathogens. Presently, Dr Yong continued her interest in microbiology where she is involved in the microbiological risk assessments of conventional ingredients, and safety evaluation of Novel foods predominately derived from biomass and precision fermentation.

Lucie is Industrial Biotechnology Manager at EuropaBio. EuropaBio represents the European healthcare & industrial biotechnology industry and works to enable a favourable policy & regulatory environment for all biotechnology products and processes in the EU. Lucie is a biologist by training and leads the EuropaBio regulatory activities on fermentation products.

Alan is an environmentalist, plant-based activist and social entrepreneur. He started his career in alternative proteins in 2019 as a founding team member of the world’s first accelerator exclusively focused on alternative proteins, the ProVeg Incubator. In 2021, Alan founded Libre Foods, harnessing the power of fungi and fermentation to lead a food system transition that truly nourishes the planet and everyone living on it.

Dr. Valeria Teloni is a Regulatory Affairs professional at Mosa Meat in the Netherlands. A biologist by education, Valeria has several years of experience in her early career with multidisciplinary research ranging from small, low budget teams to international expeditions. In 2007, she transitioned to the private sector where she specialized in product compliance and regulatory for the IVD veterinary market. After 15 years in animal diagnostics, Valeria joined Mosa Meat as Regulatory & Compliance Expert in their mission to reshape the global food system.

Dr. Er Jun Cheng is an accomplished scientist with extensive experience in food safety and exposure assessment. As a specialist team lead in exposure assessment at the Singapore Food Agency, he has spearheaded the agency’s food consumption assessment programme, the “Risk-at-a-Glance” risk communications initiative, and Singapore’s first Total Diet Study. He also reviews the pre-market safety assessments of novel food products. Jun Cheng leads a multidisciplinary team of scientists whose current focus is on conducting epidemiological research to assess Singapore residents’ diet and exposure to foodborne hazards and food safety culture. Jun Cheng is also SFA’s lead officer representing Singapore at the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food and leads a team in assessing the impact of Codex standards for contaminants.

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at the Veterinary University in Vienna (in 1996). After that he was working for about three years in biotechnology at the Veterinary University in Vienna and for about 4 years in the Austrian Medicine Agency where he assessed the safety and efficacy of drugs, including biotechnology derived medicines.Since 2003, Wolfgang Gelbmann has been joining the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) where he worked for 3 years on Biological Hazards on BSE/TSE assessments. Since 2006, he joined the EFSA Nutrition Unit, with some experience gained in the assessment of health claims and dietary reference values, but with the main task of the Novel Foods safety assessments.