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Pre-Conference Workshop - Tuesday 8th December 2026 Day One - Wednesday 9th December 2026 Day Two – Thursday 10th December 2026
Pre-Conference Workshop
How to Get ‘Noticed’ at FDA: All About GRAS Notifications and Food Contact Notifications
Following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) release of its Proposed Rule on Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) Substances on 10 August 2026, it is more important than ever for companies and stakeholders to understand the process for submitting GRAS Notifications and Food Contact Notifications (FCNs) to the Agency. 

This workshop will provide an overview of the purpose of both types of submissions; when and how they are best utilized from a strategic and regulatory compliance standpoint; the contents and data requirements for both submissions; and the mechanics of communicating with FDA before, during, and after the review process.

The pre-conference workshop will take place from 16:00-18:00.

Joe Dages | Partner, Steptoe LLP
Daniel Rubenstein | Partner, Steptoe LLP
Welcome refreshments and registration
Chair’s welcome
Dr. Alistair Irvine, Principal Technical Specialist, Food Contact Testing, Material Science and Engineering, Smithers
Session: Current and emerging regulatory developments for the food contact materials industry
The future of EU food contact materials legislation
  • Revision of Framework Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004
  • Current legislative priorities
  • Future compliance expectations
Speaker representative | DG SANTE, European Commission
Substances of concern in food contact materials and emerging chemicals regulation
  • PFAS restrictions and their impact on food contact materials
  • Bisphenols
  • Analytical challenges for recycling of plastics and paper
  • Substances of concern under PPWR: How to minimize
  • Implications for manufacturers

Ales Bartl | Partner, Keller and Heckman
Navigating national measures for paper and board: Updates to BfR recommendation XXXVI and compliance across Europe
Speaker representative invited | BfR
Networking refreshment break
Expanding EU food contact materials legislation beyond plastics
  • Potential expansion of the current harmonised EU plastics legislation to other food contact materials, including paper and board, printing inks, coatings, adhesives and other non-plastic materials.
  • Green and sustainability-related claims

Ruxandra Cana | Partner, Steptoe
Session: Food contact material risk assessment - from regulatory requirements to practical implementation
Current regulatory approaches to food contact material risk assessment
  • Regulatory framework for safety assessment
  • Roles of EFSA and national authorities
  • Hazard identification including TTC, computational models and non-animal models
  • Exposure assessment Decision-making principles
Speaker to be confirmed
Applying risk assessment in practice: Managing NIAS, data gaps and scientific uncertainty
  • Risk assessment of NIAS (non-intentionally added substances)
  • Applying threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) and other scientific tools
  • Managing data gaps and building a robust scientific justification
  • Emerging scientific methodologies and new approach methodologies (NAMs)

Peter Oldring | Regulatory Affairs Manager - Europe, The Sherwin-Williams Company
Purity, substance characterisation and compliance: what the new requirements of EU regulation 10/2011 mean in practice
  • New purity requirements
  • Substance identity and impurities
  • Analytical characterisation
  • Implications for risk assessment
  • Supporting regulatory submissions

Mike Dickinson | Managing Scientist - Chemical Regulation and Food Safety, Exponent
Networking lunch break sponsored by Keller & Heckman
Session: Printing inks, pigments and functional materials – regulatory challenges for food contact materials
The EuPIA concept: A way to compliance for printed articles
  • EuPIA structure
  • GIO and SIO in a nutshell
  • Success stories (KIP 160)
  • Information exchange in the supply chain

Alessandro Moresco | Product Compliance Manager, Hubergroup, Chair of EuPIA PIFOOD committee
Printing inks and pigments in food contact materials: An overview of global regulations and the challenges from an analytical point of view
Inge van Schöll | Senior Scientist, Triskelion
German and Swiss printing ink ordinances: Compliance challenges for manufacturers of printed food contact packaging materials
  • German vs. Swiss Printing Ink Ordinances - key regulatory differences affecting printers
  • Demonstrating compliance: data, testing, and assessment
  • Managing positive-list gaps and the 10 ppb threshold 
  • Lessons learned from UV-printed food packaging case studies
  • PPWR

Beate Ganster-Ipp | Group Coordination Regulatory Affairs, Constantia Flexibles
Networking break
Session: Analytical testing, functional barriers and toxicological assessment for food contact compliance
Testing of paper and board – recent developments in legislation and analytics
  • New limit values for specific substances in BfR recommendation XXXVI
  • Impact on analytical procedures for paper and board
  • Recent developments in the field of standardisation for paper and board

Annika König | Food Chemist, ISEGA Forschungs- und Untersuchungsgesellschaft mbH
Functional barrier consortium - the route of novel technologies through EU 2022/1616 implementation
  • Challenges in implementing novel technologies at operating facilities
  • Implications for laboratory involvement
  • The impact of evaluating large analytical datasets

Jose Antonio Alarcón | Technical Manager, PETCORE EUROPE
Closing the loop safely: Detecting and assessing mutagenic contaminants in recycled polyolefins and polystyrene
  • Safety assessment of recycled plastic
  • EFSA evaluation of recycling processes: 120-fold lower safety limits for DNA-reactive mutagens
  • Mutagenic degradation products of some printing inks and adhesives detected
  • Promising strategies for the safe circular recycling of food contact materials including de-labelling, de-inking and colour sorting
  •  Designing food contact materials for recycling while maintaining safety including the use of removable inks and adhesives and colourants that remain safe after recycling

Christian Kirchnawy | Team Leader, OFI – Austrian Research Institute
Chair’s summary and end of day one
Networking drinks reception sponsored by Steptoe (17:35-19:00)
Registration and welcome refreshments
Chair’s welcome
Dr. Alistair Irvine, Principal Technical Specialist, Food Contact Testing, Material Science and Engineering, Smithers
Session: PPWR, recycled materials and the evolving EU regulatory
Framework for food contact materials
PPWR and the future for EU food contact material legislation
  • Relationship between PPWR and EU Food Contact Materials legislation
  • Relationship with regulation (EU) 2022/1616 on recycled plastics
  • Areas of overlap and potential conflict
  • Implications for compliance strategies

Hazel O'Keeffe | Partner, Keller and Heckman LLP
Challenges ahead for plastics in food contact materials
  • Plastics in FCM – the roadmap within EU´s regulation
  • Chemical strategy for sustainability
  • Single use plastics directive
  • Recycling regulation (EU) 2022/1616
  • PPWR and the role of recycling

Dr. Sabine Lindner | Consumer and Environmental Affairs, Plastics Europe Deutschland e.V.
Implementation of commission regulation (EU) 2022/1616 on recycled plastics for food contact and related industry initiatives
  • Status and EFSA assessment of novel technologies
  • Implications of the first amendment to the regulation and evolving register of recycling installations
  • Industry initiatives on certification of input materials development of harmonized screening methods

Koen Weel | Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Director Food Contact, Coca-Cola Europe
Networking break
Navigating compliance: How PPWR and FCM regulations reshape products as raw materials for food packaging
A comprehensive overview of the technical pressues altering raw material development, focusing on:
  • Ban on hazardous substances
  • Rigorous migration and substance control
  • Design for recycling requirements
  • The declaration of conformity (DoC)

Dr. Zahra Mazloomi | Expert Product Stewardship and Data Manager, BASF
A recycler perspective
Speaker to be confirmed
Compliance case study: Product safety evaluation of ovenable, novel barrier board
  • EU rules and sustainability targets are driving the shift from plastic to fibre-based packaging.
  • In fast-moving barrier development, novel barrier materials may fall outside the positive lists.
  • Migration testing review for fibre-based materials for ovenable/ microwavable applications.

Maiju Pöysti | Development Manager, Metsä Board
Session: Implementing food contact compliance across the value chain
Nestlé guidance on safety and compliance assessment of paper-based packaging: A follow-up

 
Dr. Lionel Spack | Senior Expert Food Contact Materials, Nestlé S.A.
Digital decision support for food contact compliance: Managing regulatory information across the supply chain
  • Digitalization of the upstream value chain
  • Challenges related to PPWR
  • Food contact and recyclability
  • Digital product passport (DPP) and future developments

Michael Scherzinger | Solution Specialist, ADJUVO KFT
Networking lunch break
Regulatory responsibilities across the food contact supply chain
  • Roles and responsibilities of suppliers, converters, manufacturers, importers and food business operators
  • Regulatory accountability across the value chain
  • Supplier qualification and due diligence
  • Managing compliance across multiple jurisdictions

Mark Roberts | Director of Materials Innovations, Amcor
Session: Global regulatory developments in food contact materials
U.S. regulatory developments and the GRAS rule
  • US FDA developments
  • Implications for companies marketing food contact materials globally

Natalie Rainer | Partner, Steptoe LLP
A brand perspective: Navigating food contact materials compliance across Asia
  • Key regulatory developments across Asia
  • Regulatory differences between China, Japan, South Korea and India
  • Market access and compliance strategies for multinational companies
  • Emerging regulatory trends and future outlook
Speaker to be confirmed
Session: Emerging challenges and future directions in food contact materials
Preparing for emerging regulatory challenges in food contact materials
  • Regulatory developments for novel and bio-based food contact materials
  • Advanced recycling technologies: Opportunities and compliance challenges
  • Managing formulation, raw material and supplier changes
  • Responding to new restrictions on substances of concern
  • Regulatory horizon scanning and future priorities
  • Best practices for maintaining compliance in a changing regulatory environment
Speaker to be confirmed
Microplastics in food contact materials: Emerging scientific and regulatory considerations
  • Current scientific understanding
  • Analytical challenges
  • Potential implications for future regulation
  • Research priorities
Speaker to be confirmed
Chair’s summary and end of event