Agenda

• Redefining global operations and transitioning to a unified global supply chain model
• Harnessing digital tools to enhance visibility and decision-making across supply networks
• How to achieve cost optimization through strategic sourcing and lean practices
• Embedding safety standards ensuring consistent safety excellence across all touchpoints
• Aligning supply chain initiatives with Ingredion’s specialties-focused expansion
• Building scalable, adaptive systems to address dynamic market demands

• Unregulated PAL has led to inconsistencies in application and proliferation of PAL
• Regulated PAL was one of the recommendations of the FAO/WHO add-hoc expert group
• The approach of global Regulatory authorities to application of PAL is non-harmonised
• The regulation of PAL requires a multi-stakeholder approach
• The recently launched expert group within ILSI Europe Allergen Task Force seeks to address the above issues

Simon Flanagan, Research Fellow – Global Food Safety, Mondelez International

• Pathogen survival in the absence of water and how bacteria respond to these stressors
• New research showing the rate and extent of recovery after stressed microorganisms are exposed to water and nutrients
• The implications for food factory operations and the need to re-think approaches to cleaning and disinfection to re-establishing hygienic conditions in the food manufacturing environment

Dr. John Hanlin, PhD: Vice President of Global Food Safety, Ecolab
Dr. Carmela Pennacchia, PhD: EU Technical Excellence Specialist , Ecolab

• METRO world-wide standard and requirements
• Challenges in Qualification
• Loss of certification
• Development possibilities and requirements
• Conclusion

Elza Palenik, Head of QA and Sustainability, METRO AG

• Food and beverage Industry is using a lot of water
• Ensuring adequate water quality is becoming a challenge in times of water scarcity
• Reuse Water needs to be fit-for-purpose
• How to define “fit-for-purpose water”?
• Can risk assessments support that approach?
• Overview of commonly used water treatments

Anett Winkler, Food Safety Advisor, Cargill Germany GmbH

• Food Fraud as an emerged risk?
• How to tackle the risk?
• Barilla approach
• Practical examples

Antonio Nespoli, Region Italy Q&FS Director, Barilla G e R Fratelli

• Proposal for “Food Safety Professional” as a regulated profession
• Regulated professions – why and current status
• Requirements for education
• Code of ethics
• Responsibility for food producers

Peter Overbosch, VP of QA (retired), Metro AG

• Food safety is a joint responsibility for all the partners of the food supply chain, from farm to fork, and is dependent on strong partnerships along the agri-food chain
• As we face simultaneous threats to the European agri-food system on food safety and security, we need to rethink the broader consequences of stricter food safety standards
• To build resilient food systems, more dialogue with all relevant stakeholders is required to find new approaches to risk management to optimise impacts across food safety, security and sustainability
• Better risk and benefit communication is crucial to provide consumers with confidence in our food chain and give food & drink businesses the confidence to operate and invest

Alejandro Rodarte, Director of Food Safety, FoodDrinkEurope

• The Journey: How Barilla structured the Q&FS digital roadmap
• Data Culture as an asset: accelerate decisions and improve issue detection through data excellence
• AI in Practice: GenAI pilots and use cases that turn insight into action
• What’s Next: Continuing the evolution toward smarter, more connected, and predictive Q&FS systems to enhance resilience, compliance, and consumer trust

Gabriele Lorenzani, Q&FS Digital Systems Manager, Barilla

• Need for change
• Future directions and smart technologies as game changers
• Innovations at the interface of knowledge and technology
• Systems approach for scalable impact
• Looking ahead

Gulden Yilmaz, Director AgriFood&Environment, OnePlanet Research Center

The move from paper-based cleaning instruction cards to rudimentary digitized tools such as spreadsheets and tables is an evolutionary development in food safety program management. However, the revolutionary step is the digitalization of cleaning & disinfection procedures and their accompanying pathogen environmental monitoring programs yielding living insights into a factory’s microbial ecosystem.

• How a manufacturer is improving the conformance of their C&D program to meet company policies
• Easing the burden and improving the timeliness of data sharing during customer and third-party audits
• Targeted insights into deeper and richer root cause analysis for investigational purposes

Dr. John Hanlin, PhD: Vice President of Global Food Safety, Ecolab

• Regulatory requirements
• Scope of an effective program
• Risk based, targeted approach
• Continuous improvement

• Detection and risk assessment
• Initiation and notification
• Traceability and tracking
• Execution and retrieval
• Communication
• Root cause analysis and corrective actions

Ana Glumpak, Head of Quality Assurance, Pan-Pek

• From innovation to implementation – bridging product development and manufacturing for market success
• Enhancing cross-functional collaboration across R&D, supply chain, and manufacturing
• Accelerating speed-to-market without compromising quality and safety standards
• Using AI and data analytics to forecast trends and guide product development
• Case studies on scaling from prototype to production