2021 Speakers

Bart Ingredients supply a wide range of ingredients including herbs and spices from origins around the world. These products are widely considered to be at risk from adulteration and contamination. Bart Ingredient’s Food Defence Team focusses on the Integrity of Ingredients throughout the global supply chains. Gideon has worked in the UK and overseas in primary food production and technical management for 15 years, with experience of the challenges of emerging ingredients and new technologies.

Shabeek Thayyil is with Agthia P.J.S.C - UAE since Dec 2009 and currently holds the position of Director- Quality & Food Safety (Water & Beverages). His educational background in in Food Science, Operation’s Management, Catering Management and TQM. He has over 16 years of experience in the area of Quality, Food Safety & HSE for the Airline Catering Industry and FMCG. Prior to his association with Agthia PJSC, he held management and middle management positions in different companies – GFI (an Al Batha Group Company -UAE), Etihad Airline Catering -UAE, Qatar Aircraft Catering Company (QACC)- Qatar and Abu Dhabi International Airport Catering Company (AIAC)- UAE. Shabeek has participated in several Food Safety, Quality, HSE & Halal conferences across the globe. His area of expertise include- Quality & Food Safety strategy development and management, TQM tools, Allergens & Sanitation Management, HALAL , GLP , IMS System Development, Six Sigma, Change Management, setting EFQM & SKEA models, Quality bench-marking and Quality Culture Development, accessing the FSMS, QMS, HALAL and HSE management system.

Vice President Innovation: responsible for innovation within Cosun. Cosun Innovation is part of Royal Cosun The Netherlands. Main working areas Innovation, Product and Process support, development and Biobased Economy. Cosun Innovation discovers, inspires and supports further development of innovations for Cosun and its business groups.

Anett Winkler joined Kraft Jacobs Suchard in December 1998 to head up the research microbiology laboratory in Munich. Later on Anett concentrated on chocolate, biscuits and other low moisture foods including supplier developments and approvals. She also consolidated the scientific basis for microbiological process controls in low moisture foods by performing validation studies for nut & cocoa processing. Following a regional role for Microbiology in the Eastern European, Middle East & African Region she was globally designing food safety programs, rolling out training modules related to food safety and further supporting supplier development. Anett was also the global expert for thermal processing within Mondelez International.

In October 2017 Anett moved to a new position as “EMEA Regional Food Microbiologist Lead” at Cargill, where she is supporting all Cargill businesses in that region (Europe / Middle East / Africa) for microbiological / food safety related topics. Anett is also active in ILSI Europe (Microbiology Food Safety), and IAFP being a committee member for the IAFP European Symposium.

I'm a food technologist with a significant experience - gained both abroad and in Italy - in a number of food and beverage sectors: milk, cheese, meat and coffee. In addition, I also have a considerable know-how about food packaging as I worked for 5 years in a packaging company. I have always been performing key roles - Technical Director, Plant Manager, Quality Manager - in the following departments: Production, Quality Control, Research & Development. Several experiences have allowed me to see different sides of the business process, appreciating the different faces of the same problem. I think my strength is the ability to learn new things quickly and I am very good at adapting to change in any situation. I believe in Teamwork and the strength it can generate by working for goals. I joined Kaizen's philosophy and believe in continuous improvement through optimizing organization and processes by eliminating waste. I love analysing problem with numbers and facts because across the Lean six-sigma Black Belt certification I understood the power of statistics. In my opinion, a company that wants to express itself at the highest levels should not only try to increase its margins through cost cutting, but also try to implement strategies that ultimately aim at customer satisfaction by making the right product with the fair price, at the right time. My favourite quote is: "Impossible is nothing"

Cesare is a food lawyer based in Italy and founder of Foodlawlatest.com, his independent law firm and food law blog. In addition to labelling compliance services on over 70 countries and food law advice, he regularly provides assistance to clients in relation to crisis management, food safety issues, food fraud investigations and import/export requirements. Through partnerships with technical experts and other international advisors he can offer a multidisciplinary and multi-jurisdiction approach, to timely answer clients’ need in a globalized environment: he proudly works at the intersection between food technology, law, business and social sciences, building bridges between different sectors to deliver a strategic and actionable advice. He is a well recognized speaker and he is involved in several scientific activities for private companies, public institutions and universities. He is teaching at LUISS LL.M in Food Law in Rome, at the Master in Food Law & Safety of the University Alma Mater in Bologna and he is guest instructor at Michigan State University Institute for Food Laws and Regulations.