Don't miss the 7th Annual Food Law Conference! Join FSANZ and a line-up of top industry leaders and government officers as they tackle key issues in Australia and New Zealand's Food & Beverage industry. Topics include FSANZ approach to cell-cultured foods, GM regulations, sugar claims, Health Star ratings. When alternative proteins foods, plant or specialized fermentation are considered novel. Determining which food-medicine interface for a product and how regulators enforce compliance.  What are the legislative requirements to manage food safety risks. Get latest advertising decisions, update on key IP issues, and sustainable packaging. Plus hear from a panel of leading industry experts as they discuss what they see as being the regulatory challenges of the future. Be part of the conversation shaping the future of food law!

Presenters

Charles Fisher, Principal Solicitor, KHQ Lawyers
Charles specialises in Australian food standards and regulations. Charles provides food regulatory and compliance advice to leading Australian and international food and beverage companies including food regulatory issues and product risk assessment and advice in relation to new product development projects and product marketing campaigns. In addition to his consulting work, Charles is a key a presenter of FoodLegal training programs and seminars. Charles holds a Bachelor of Law & Legal Practice as well as an Arts degree majoring in Spanish and Drama from Flinders University, and a post-graduate diploma in Film & Television from the University of Melbourne.


Alan Edwards, Snr Food Incident Response & Complaints Co-Ordinator Compliance and Integrity Systems, NSW Department of Primary Industries
Alan Edwards is the Senior Food Incident Response and Complaints Coordinator within the Biosecurity & Food Safety branch of the NSW Department of Primary Industries. He is one of two food incident contact officers and coordinators for NSW under the National Food Incident Response Protocol and one of the food recall action officers for NSW under the National Food Recall Strategy. Alan coordinates a team that responds to food hazards, including outbreaks of foodborne disease, to ensure they are managed effectively to prevent harm to consumers and limit damage to the food industry. Alan has over 20 years’ experience as an investigator and lawyer.


Tania Martin, Director, Imported Food, Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry
Ms Martin has had a long career in food safety in regulation, policy development, risk management, and incident response. Ms Martin joined DAFF in 2015 to work on legislative changes to the Imported Food Control Act 1992, following the hepatitis A outbreak associated with imported frozen berries. She previously worked at Food Standards Australia New Zealand, project managing the development of standards including the food safety standards and the guide to these standards, Safe Food Australia. She also managed food recalls and responded to food incidents. Ms Martin began her career as an Environmental Health Officer with ACT Health.


Clare Nass, Senior Group Counsel, Asia Pacific, George Weston Foods Limited
Clare is a Senior Legal Counsel with one of Australia’s biggest food and beverage companies, George Weston Foods which is a subsidiary of the UK listed company, Associated British Foods. The group includes well known brands such as Tip Top, Twinings, DON, Pataks, Ryvita, Yumi’s, among many others. Clare has been working in FMCG for the last 10 years and prior to that honed her legal skills working in house at a large advertising company. Her current role covers both commercial advice in Australia and New Zealand as well as supporting the groups business across the Asia Pacific region on matters relating to intellectual property and information technology.


Keith Chessell, AIP Education Team, Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP)
Keith Chessell FAIP has over 46 years of experience within the Food, Beverage & Confectionery industry (Cottee’s, Schweppes, Pepsi, Cadbury, Kraft/Mondelez) with the innovation and development of new products and the relaunch of existing products and packaging.  In recent years his focus has been on sustainable packaging design and assisting the AIP & WPO with Save Food initiatives and training support for Educational institutions.  Judging packaging design awards has been a great interest over the past 12 years and he has combined this with his ‘Sustainable Packaging Design consultancy.  Keith is on the DCCEEW National Packaging Design Standards working group, an AIP representative on the APCO Materials Stewardship Committees, Standards Australia, and was on the APCO Board. Keith is a Fellow and Life Member of the AIP, a Lifetime Achievement Award winner for the WPO, and is an invaluable member of the AIP Education Team.


Jo Davey, Director, Pirrama Consulting
Jo Davey is a company director and consultant experienced in general management, innovation, food safety, regulatory affairs and product development in the dairy and food manufacturing sectors. She is a Director of Pirrama Consulting Pty Ltd, which provides management and technical consulting services to the food and beverage industries. In addition to her FSANZ role, Jo serves as a Director of the Subtropical Dairy Programme (a Regional Development Programme of Dairy Australia) and as a Director of PPB Pty Ltd, a start-up diagnostics company. Previous directorships include Dairy Food Safety Victoria, Dairy Innovation Australia Ltd and its predecessor organisations, and Australian Dairy Proteins. She was a member of the industry Advisory Committee for CSIRO's Food Futures Flagship for 10 years. She has also served as the national and state President of the Dairy industry Association of Australia and President of the Australian Institute of Food science and Technology. Jo has held senior commercial and technical roles in the Dairy Farmers Group and was the Managing Director of a start-up food company, Diabetes Smart.


Kim Tonnet, Principal, Kim Tonnet Consulting
Kim is a Regulatory Scientist with over 30 years of experience in the food and grocery industry; working across several product categories in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business models (including quick service restaurants). She has held roles in Quality Assurance, New Product Development, Product Stewardship, Regulatory Science and Consumer Marketing in large multinationals such as Unilever, Mars, Coca-Cola South Pacific and Nestlé and, small/medium start-up enterprises such as the Lupin Protein Bread Company and All G Foods. Kim is a keen advocate for best practice regulation, representing industry and food science professionals. She regularly engages with government and other stakeholders and sits on several committees including those hosted by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ), the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) and the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). She has also sat on working groups at the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and Standards Australia, to develop global standards for vegan, vegetarian and plant-based foods. Kim’s special interests include allergen management, the food-medicine interface and future foods, particularly complementary proteins. She is an Advisory Board member of the Australasian Plant Based Association (APBA), a professional member of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) and, a foundation member of the Alternative Protein Council of Australia (APC). Currently she is also engaging with Cellular Agriculture Australia (CAA) and FSANZ to develop a fit-for-purpose regulatory framework for precision-fermented proteins and cultivated meat.


Fiona Fleming, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST)
Fiona is a Director of FJ Fleming Food Consulting Pty Ltd and CEO of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST). She is an experienced Corporate and Regulatory Affairs professional who has been involved in leading and facilitating change and developing management strategies across a portfolio of food policy and regulation matters in global FMCG and NGO environments. Fiona is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology. Fiona is currently serving as a Non-Executive Director and Deputy Chair of Healthy Kids. Fiona is a member of Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia, an Associate Member of the Allergen Bureau, and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Fiona holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Food Technology) from the University of Queensland and a Masters of Nutrition Management from the University of Wollongong.


Dr Matthew O’Mullane, General Manager, Risk Management and Intelligence, FSANZ
Dr Matthew O’Mullane is the General Manager of the Risk Management and Intelligence Branch at Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and has worked across the Australian government for nearly 25 years, including over 10 years at FSANZ. He has extensive experience in human health risk analysis and the regulation of food, chemicals, pesticides, veterinary medicines, and GMOs. Matt was a toxicological adviser to the World Health Organisation (2011-2017), the Australian Delegation Leader to the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (2018-2022), chaired FSANZ’s Advisory Committee on Novel Foods (2017-2022) and was secretary of the Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee (2022-2024). Prior to joining government, he was a research scientist in the university and private sectors and led innovations in cancer drug development and disease detection, and undertook research in human virology and plant biochemistry. Matt has a first class honours degree in virology and a PhD in cancer cell biology from the University of Wollongong.


Glen Neal, Partner, Agite Consulting
Glen heads up our food and primary sector practice and helps clients manage compliance and regulatory risk and stakeholder engagement. With more than 20 years’ experience in food regulation & biosecurity, Glen is a seasoned crisis and risk manager with a wealth of media and public speaking experience. He has advised many boards and is an experienced governor.


Megan McEwin, Director of Policy & Regulatory Affairs, Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA)
As the Director of Policy & Regulatory Affairs at the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), Megan works with the major food and beverage brands in Australia to develop advertising codes that ensure food and beverage advertising continues to meet community requirements and expectations. With over 20 years’ experience in the regulatory and self-regulatory sectors, Megan started her career with the ACCC before moving to the industry self-regulatory sector with AMP, Optus and later INMS, the telecommunications self-regulatory number allocation and porting system. Megan holds a Bachelor of Law.


Alison Jones, Special Counsel, Corrs Chambers Westgarth
Alison is a Special Counsel at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Australia’s leading independent law firm and practises in IP, competition and consumer law, entertainment law and related areas. Alison has expertise across a broad range of areas, including IP protection and enforcement, commercialisation (including licensing, distribution and sponsorship), advertising collateral, complaints and disputes, industry ethics, competition and consumer law, anti-bribery, anti-counterfeiting, confidential information, cross-border transactions, contract drafting and due diligence. She advises various leading companies on a range of regulatory issues including food law, cosmetics, life sciences and therapeutic goods regulation, trade, customs, administrative action, investigations, product liability and recalls, privacy and data protection. Alison has undertaken various client secondments in global companies at General Counsel level including a US headquartered pharmaceutical and life sciences company, a leading multinational FMCG company and a major global interactive marketing services company.


Dr Mirjana Prica, Chair & Managing Director, FIAL Food Innovation Australia
Dr  Mirjana Prica is an enthusiastic visionary who focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation to deliver commercial value. Mirjana leverages her research and commercial experience in food, agribusiness, advanced materials to drive innovation and business growth for Australian businesses.