International jury of experts

Prof. Dr. Michael Doßmann's area of expertise is food technology. He is also an expert in management and technology. He was head of product and packaging development at Nestlé, Institute Director at the Weser-Ems Chamber of Agriculture, Division Manager at the Theo Müller Group and later at Nordmilch AG (now DMK). Since 2010, he has been the owner of his management consultancy for the food and supplier industry and Professor of Technology, Innovation and Quality Management at Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences.

Dr. Edewa studied agriculture (B.Sc.) and food safety and quality in his master's degree. He then completed his PhD in sanitary and phytosanitary standards at the University of Greenwich, UK, and is currently conducting post-doctoral studies in TBT and SPS systems in Africa at the University of Missouri, USA. He is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Nairobi, where he supports a postgraduate program in food safety and quality. Dr. Edewa is the Director of the Standards and SPS Programme at TradeMark East Africa (TMEA). He has more than two decades experience developing and implementing quality and SPS systems in Africa, having worked in various technical capacities at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), as Food Safety Officer at the African Union and as Food Safety Advisor at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He has practical experience in implementing standards and SPS programmes with the private sector, having worked as food systems expert for various food business operations in East Africa.

Dr. Michael Gänzle is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Food Microbiology and Probiotics (Tier I) at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Prof. Gänzle was recognized as a Clarivate “highly cited researcher” in 2021, serves as Associate Editor of “Frontiers in Microbiology” and "Frontiers in Nutrition" and is member of the editorial board of “Food Microbiology”, “Applied and Environmental Microbiology”, and the “International Journal of Food Microbiology”.

After a master’s degree in Food Science Dr. Kees de Gooijer worked in succession at Cebeco-Handelsraad, the Food & BioProcess Engineering group (Wageningen University, where he also received his PhD degree), the Educational Institute of Technology and Nutrition (Director), State Institute of Food Safety (Director), Agrotechnology and Food Sciences Group of Wageningen UR (General Director) and Food & Nutrition Delta (Managing Director). Since 2012 he has been director of the Topconsortium for Knowledge and Innovation Agri&Food and chairman of the board of directors of TKI-BioBased Economy. Besides this Dr. de Gooijer is member of several advisory and supervisory boards.

Prof. Dr. Tilo Hühn, Food Architect, Doctor of Biology, holds an engineering degree in Viticulture and Oenology. His research focuses on regenerative process engineering, analytical science and technology of aroma components, bioactive substances and value-determining ingredients. Together with his team and in collaboration with other stakeholders he creates, varies, expands, and reproduces the information pathways to explore functional solutions for the food world. In cooperation with industrial partner’s, new solutions for extraction of more good ingredients from grapes, apples, oranges, olives, tomatoes, spices, herbs, coffee, insects, nuts, cocoa and plant cell cultures were created. Since 1997 he has been working at the Zurich University for Applied Sciences in Waedenswil, Switzerland and is Head of the Centre for Food Composition and Process Design.

Prof. Dr. Henry Jäger is a Professor of Food Technology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU). He returned to academia after an industrial assignment in research and development at Nestlé, where he worked in process development for preservation technologies. Prior to that, he conducted research in food biotechnology and process engineering at the Technical University of Berlin, where he also received his PhD and completed an engineering degree in food technology (Dipl.-Ing.). His research focuses on the application of alternative food processing technologies for gentle food preservation and the targeted modification of food structures. He is a member of the editorial board of Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies and Frontiers in Nutrition: Nutrition and Food Science Technology.

Prof. Dr. Victoria A. Jideani is an Associate Professor of Food Science and Technology at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Cape Town, South Africa (SA). She obtained her PhD in 2001. Before joining CPUT in 2008, Prof. Jideani was Principal Scientist and Head of Food Technology Unit at the National Food Technology Research Centre, Botswana. Prof. Jideani has two registered patents and over 50 publications in both international and regional peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings and books. She is internationally recognized for her research contribution in cereal science, food processing, food product development, optimization and modelling of food processes. She has received many awards including the SA National Research Foundation award as an established researcher, research grants and a scientific poster prize. She is a professional member of SA Association of Food Technologists as well as Cereal Science & Technology-SA, AACC and IFT. She is passionate abount enhancing the value of indigenous African grains and seeds to ensure food security in Africa.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gi Eun Kim studied food technology at Korea University, where she received her bachelor's degree. She received her PhD from the Department of Biotechnology at the Technical University of Berlin. She is a member of the Korean Academy of Environment, a committee member of the Korean Academy of Environmental Sciences (KAES), and vice president of the Korea Biofuels Forum (KBF). Likewise, Prof. Kim sits on the Innovation Committee of the Korean Ministry of small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups and is a board member of the Alumni Network Germany-Korea (ADeKo). In 2010-2015, she was a council member of the Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development (RFTE).

Prof. Dr. Horst-Christian Langowski holds a doctorate in physics. His fields of work are packaging technology for food, technical and pharmaceutical products and information technology for the safe operation of filling lines. From 2003 to 2020 he was appointed Chair of Food Packaging Technology. From 2006 to 2019, he was Dean of Studies for Brewing and Food Technology, and from 2004 to 2020, he was the Director of the Fraunhofer IVV, Freising. Prof. Langowski is a member of the board of the Center for Food and Packaging Technology e.V. (ZLV), Kempten, as well as 1st chairman of the Weihenstephaner Milchwirtschaftler, Bio- und Lebensmitteltechnologen e.V. (WMBL), Freising-Weihenstephan.

Olga Martín-Belloso is Professor of Food Science and Technology at the University of Lleida, Spain, and Head of the Innovative Technologies for Food Processing research unit. Her research interests focus on the development of safe and healthy ready-to-eat products by combining existing processing technologies with innovative techniques. She has authored about 400 research papers in SCI Journals, being a “highly cited researcher” in recent years. She belongs to the editorial board of recognized journals and is editor of two of them. She has received the 2008 ICREA Academia Award, 2015 IFT Fellow, 2016 IAFoST member and the 2018 Narcís Monturiol medal, among others, and appointed Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Cantabria, Spain. Currently, she is the Vice-Rector for Research and Transfer at the University of Lleida as well as former President of the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST), Vice-President of the International Society of Food Engineering (ISFE) and President of the Spanish Society for Food Engineering (SESIA).

Prof. Dr. Helga Medic has been working at the University of Zagreb since 1996. In 2007 she spent six months at Ghent University, Belgium, as part of the European FP6 project "Pathogen Combat" and in April 2013 she spent one month as a visiting professor at Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Food Science. Prof. Medic's scientific research activities are mainly focused on the safety and quality of meat and meat products, poultry meat and eggs. The application of bioelectrical impedance analysis in the quality control of animal products has been the subject of master's and doctoral thesis research. She published various scientific papers and two books and is a member of the editorial board of a scientific journal and a technical editor. She is a member of the Scientific Committee for Chemical Hazards of the Croatian Food Authority, Executive Director and member of the Ex-Co of the World's Poultry Science Association - Croatian branch since 2002 and the European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group. She is also the Chairperson of RS Croatia.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Cornelia Rauh has headed the Department of Food Biotechnology and Process Engineering at Technical University Berlin since 2013. Previously, she was group leader of the research groups "Thermofluid Dynamics of Biotechnological Processes" and "Computational Fluid Dynamics" at the Chair of Fluid Mechanics at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. She studied food technology and biotechnology at the Technical University of Munich until 2005. She received her PhD in 2008 and her habilitation in 2013. Her research focuses on the interdisciplinary field of numerical and experimental investigation of biotic and abiotic flowable matter on different time and length scales. This includes, among others, food preservation using high-pressure processes and pulsed electric fields, the study of food foams, extrusion processes, fermentation processes, and the analysis and design of (bio)chemical/biotechnological reactors.

Prof. Dr. Katharina Riehn is a specialist veterinarian for food safety and meat hygiene. She completed her studies at the Freie Universität Berlin and received her doctorate at the Institute for Food Hygiene. Since 2012, she has been a professor of food microbiology and toxicology in the Department of Ecotrophology at the Faculty of Life Sciences at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. Her research focuses on animal welfare aspects in the field of slaughter and food-associated parasitic zoonoses. Another research focus is on the identification of quality parameters in cocoa and mangoes. In November 2014, she additionally completed the training to become a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Public Health (ECVPH) in the field of "Food Science".

After studying food technology and biotechnology in Berlin, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stiebing worked at the Canning Institute in Neumünster and at the Federal Institute for Meat Research (now: Max Rubner Institute) in Kulmbach. In 1991, he was appointed to the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Technical University (TH OWL), where he headed the Meat Technology Department until his retirement in 2015. He has been a lecturer in meat technology at TH OWL since 2022, focusing his research and work on the technology and sensory analysis of meat, meat products, ready meals and convenience products. His honorary activities until 2017 were: Scientific Director of DLG Quality Testing Raw Sausage and Ham, Chairman DLG Test Center Food, Vice President of DLG, Member of the Board of Trustees of Stiftung Warentest, Member of the Board Lemgoer Arbeitskreis Fleisch + Feinkost e.V., Member of the Advisory Board of the trade journal Fleischwirtschaft and Expert in the Technical Committee Meat and Meat Products of the German Food Book Commission.

Prof. Dr. Birgit Vogel-Heuser received her Diploma in Electrical Engineering and her PhD from RWTH Aachen University, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Since 2009, she has been a professor and head of the Chair of Automation and Information Systems at the Technical University of Munich, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Since 2014, she has also held a visiting professorship in Mechanical Engineering at the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems (IMS), University of Cincinnati, USA. Her research areas are: Modelling of distributed embedded systems in automation engineering and control-related reliability and usability, human-machine interaction in process engineering and process operations.

Dr.-Ing. Tobias Voigt studied brewing and beverage technology at the Technical University of Munich and earned his doctorate at the Chair of Brewery Plants and Food Packaging Technology. At the successor Chair of Food Packaging Technology, Dr. Voigt conducts research on filling and packaging technology, sustainable industrial food production and its information technology support as head of the Plant Engineering and Information Technology group. (e.g. "Weihenstephan Standards"). Since January 2013, he has also served as Managing Director for the  Industrial Association for Food Technology and Packaging e.V., a non-profit association that promotes application-oriented research.