Food Safety and Dietary Risk Assessment

Sina-Elisabeth Ben Ali studied nutritional sciences at the University of Vienna. Since 2018, she has been working in the field of pesticide residues at AGES. She is involved in the assessment of plant protection products and active substances, as well as in the evaluation of MRL applications. Additionally, she has been participating in the Standing Committee on Pesticide Residues since 2021.

Isabelle Christian is a Dietary Safety and Metabolism Expert at Bayer. She holds a PhD in organic synthesis and joined Bayer Crop Science in 2002 as a research chemist. In 2008, she moved to development/consumer risk assessment. She is a member of the CLE RESG and chairs the EUPAF dietary safety subgroup.

Karsten Hohgardt is the Head of the unit responsible for risk management in the field of toxicology, application security, methods of analysis, and residue behaviour at BVL. His main experience lies in MRL setting and residue behaviour.

Carsten Kneuer is a Toxicologist and the Head of the Unit “Toxicology of Active Substances and their Metabolites“ in the Pesticides Safety Department of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. His group is evaluating the mammalian toxicology of pesticides within the EU assessment framework and is actively involved in various projects aimed at the advancement of our risk assessment practice.

Silvia I. Nicolau Solano is a Veterinarian specialised in food safety, holding a PhD in molecular genetics and biochemistry, along with two Masters of Science in biotechnology and meat science. Her professional career in the EU institutions spans over 14 years, where she has been dedicated to leverage the impact of science in policymaking. This includes food safety risk assessment as Scientific Officer at EFSA and research for health and food system policies as Policy Analyst at the JRC and as Scientific Officer at the European Research Council Executive Agency. Currently, she is involved in developing evidence-based policies in the area of residues of plant protection products as a Policy Officer at the Directorate of Health and Food Safety of the European Commission. Before joining the EU institutions, she worked at national level, leading the development of a knowledge transfer programme between academia and the food sector and implementing national official controls at primary production ensuring compliance with food safety standards.

Juan Parra Morte has been Toxicologist in the Pesticide Peer Review Unit of EFSA since 2008. He has been actively involved in the assessment of pesticide active substances, their metabolites and impurities, including the EFSA PPR, the OECD Guidance on Residue Definition and EFSA's outsourced projects on the Genotoxicity Database and QSAR and Read-Across for the genotoxicity of metabolites. He is chairing the EFSA Working Group on NAMs QSARs.

Hermine Reich has been working at EFSA since 2006. As Lead Senior Scientific Officer in the Unit on Pesticide Residues she is responsible for developing and coordinating cross-cutting scientific topics related to EFSA’s risk assessment activities under Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, in particular in the field of dietary risk assessment, assessment of MRL applications, and development of risk assessment methodologies.

Petra Veit is a Biologist by training and Head of Consumer Safety Residues within BASF. She is responsible for the field and the analytical part of all kind of residue studies for MRL settings.