2022 European Symposium
May 4 – May 6 | Holiday Inn City Centre, Munich, Germany
Photos from IAFP's European Symposium
On 4-6 May 2022, the IAFP European Symposium on Food Safety took place in Munich, Germany with more than 230 delegates participating at the Holiday Inn Munich – City Centre. The Opening
Session kicked off Wednesday morning with presentations by Anett Winkler, Chair of the Organizing Committee; David Tharp, IAFP Executive Director and IAFP President, Ruth Petran. Anett
thanked the Organizing Committee for their work in developing this year’s program while David told about IAFP and its benefits. Ruth welcomed everyone to the symposium and outlined a few highlights
of the three-day program. She also recognized Alessia Delbrück, our student travel scholarship
recipient from 2020.
This was the first European Symposium on Food Safety held since the one in Nantes,
France in April of 2019. The 2020 Symposium was canceled due to COVID-19 and in 2021,
the symposium was held virtually. This year’s symposium attracted 56% of the total attendance
recorded in 2019, but those who accepted the challenge of traveling to Munich were overjoyed to
see each other again after the two-year absence of an in-person symposium. We all hope to see a
return to “normal” participation levels in 2023.
Also presenting at the Opening Session were Andreas Hensel from the German Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin, Germany who talked on the “National Aspects of Food Safety in the Context
of an International Framework.” Ruth Petran preceded Dr. Hensel with her presentation on “Practical Application of Risk Assessment Outcomes Helps Ensure Food Safety.”
There were six roundtables, eighteen symposia, nine technical sessions and two poster sessions that took place over the three days of the symposium. More than 240 presentations on food safety
were made in Munich this year. Thirteen exhibiting companies and organizations along with three sponsors helped to support this year’s European Symposium. We are happy for their participation
and sponsorship of the event.
Friday’s Closing Session ended the symposium with two interesting speakers. Ulrich Schotte,
Zentrales Institut des Sanitätsdienstes der Bundeswehr (Central Institute of the Medical Service of
the German Armed Forces), Kiel, Germany spoke on ”Food Safety in the Military Context – From
Viral Reservoirs to Mobile Detection,” followed by a presentation from Giusi Amore, European
Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Parma, Italy titled, “EU Monitoring of Foodborne Outbreaks and
Foodborne Diseases in 2020 and Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic.” These presentations were
followed by the Developing Scientist Competition recognition awards.
Recipients were:
Technical - Rosa Heydenreich, ETH Zurich
Poster - Dimitra Tsoureki, University of Turin
After the Closing Session, attendees enjoyed lunch and social time together before beginning their journey home.