RAFA 2024
In line with the concept of the previous events, RAFA 2024 Symposium will provide an overview of contemporary trends in the ANALYTICAL & BIOANALYTICAL STRATEGIES IN FOOD QUALITY AND SAFETY CONTROL and discuss the CHALLENGES AND NOVEL APPROACHES IN FOOD AND NATURAL PRODUCTS ANALYSIS.
👉REGISTRATION
👉ABSTRACTS SUBMISSION
The organizers of the RAFA 2024 plan to prepare a balanced programme including oral presentations given both by invited speakers, researchers and young scientists, satellite workshops, interactive and vendor seminars, extensive poster sessions and nice social events.
Following tentative RECENT & EMERGING ISSUES will be addressed in the RAFA 2024 sessions:
- Food additives, healthy nutrients & vitamins
- Food allergens
- Flavour & off-flavours
- Alternative proteins
- Mycotoxins, marine and plant toxins in a changing climate
- Pesticide & veterinary drug residues
- Process induced contaminants
- Environmental contaminants
- Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
- Metals & metalloids, including their speciation
- Migrants from food packaging materials
- Micro- and nanoplastics in food
- Food authenticity, fraud and forensics
- (Multi)omics in food analysis
- Illegal and natural food supplements
- Exposomics & Human biomonitoring
- Sensors & Portable food analysis
- Circularity and sustainability
- Green food analysis
- Next generation sequencing for food quality & safety
- Effect based analysis & bioassays
- Spatially resolved food analysis
- Food legislation requirements for food control
- Artificial Intelligence in food analysis
- QA/QC, Chemometrics & Big data handling
We are looking forward to meeting you again in beautiful Prague!
Prof. Jana Pulkrabova & Dr. Stefan van Leeuwen, Symposium Chairs
Prof. Michele Suman, Symposium Co-chair
Prof. Jana Hajslova & Prof. Michel Nielen, Symposium Honorary chairs
Important dates and deadlines
Registration
- June 17, 2024: Deadline to apply for Young researcher travel grant
- June 17, 2024: Deadline to apply for participation as a Sponsor or Exhibitor
- July 31, 2024: Reduced registration fee deadline
Call for papers
- July 15, 2024: Abstract submission for oral presentation
- August 31, 2024: Abstract submission for poster presentation
- September 24, 2024: Notification of Abstracts acceptance
- September 30, 2024: Last minute posters deadline
- October, 2024: Final programme
Conference programme (dates for diary)
- November 4, 2024: Registration desk open from 4.00 to 7.00 p.m.
- November 5, 2024: Registration desk open from 7.30 a.m.
- November 5-8, 2024: Symposium sessions, seminars, workshops and vendor seminars
- November 5, 2024: Welcome Cocktail
- November 7, 2024: Symposium Dinner
Programme
Programme at a glance
RAFA 2024 Scientific Committee and the organizers of the 11th International Symposium on Recent Advances in Food Analysis (RAFA 2024) aim to prepare a balanced program with many top quality presentations followed by stimulating discussions, satellite events, a large state-of-the-art exhibition and an attractive social program. Scientific contributions will be presented by leading scientists through keynote lectures and by contributed oral and poster presentations.
RAFA 2024: programme at glance.
Invited speakers
Prof. Marco Arlorio (University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy)
- Quality, safety, authenticity and traceability of botanicals and food supplements: a new holistic challenge for food chemists?
- Key message: Despite the popularity and the large use of food supplements - often prepared using botanicals - a large concern about their quality and safety have been raised, especially regarding their authenticity and integrity (misidentification and adulteration with other plant species) and the presence of contaminants. More advanced (and rapid) combined analytical approaches are required to assess their quality and safety…
Prof. Jacob de Boer (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
- PFAS Exposure – Sense and Nonsense
- Key message: Current research on contaminants in food and the environment tends to be dominated by PFAS: per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances. Authorities clearly struggle in setting protecting PFAS tolerance levels that at the same time are realistic and, e.g., still allow us to drink tap water. This situation clearly calls for an urgent international harmonization.
Prof. Christopher Elliott (Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Great Britain)
- Fighting deforestation through advances in analytical chemistry
- Key message: Deforestation, especially of the Amazon, is causing huge environmental damage & driving climate change. The EU has legislation to combat the trade in feed and food linked to deforestation. There is an urgent need for science to help support this legislation and prevent fraud.
Dr. Carsten Fauhl-Hassek (Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Berlin, Germany)
- NMR spectroscopy - A versatile tool in food control
Prof. Hans-Gerd Janssen (Unilever Foods Innovation Centre & Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands)
- Quality aspects of plant proteins for meat and dairy alternatives: molecules and methods**
- Key message: The unpleasant flavour and taste of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives are major obstacles in the transition from animal proteins to more sustainable plant protein sources. Analytical methods show us what are the responsible molecules and allow us to monitor the efficacy of removal methods.
Prof. Bruno Le Bizec (LABERCA - ONIRIS, Nantes, France)
- Food and the chemical exposome, where do we stand? Successes, challenges, impact on public policy
- Key message: From conception to the end of life, human beings are exposed to mixtures of thousands of chemicals, the relative proportion of which changes every day as a function of lifestyle habits and, in particular, dietary choices. How can we capture the lifetime chemical exposome? How to characterise exposure trajectories at population/individual levels? What do we already know, and what are the major challenges of tomorrow?
Prof. Erich Leitner (Graz University of Technology, Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Graz, Austria)
- Safety assessment of food contact materials in the context of European regulations
- Key message: In the light of the ongoing discussions about global pollution there is a huge pressure on industry for the development of new packaging material. Also, in accordance with the European Strategy it is planned preventing packaging waste, boosting reuse and refill, and making all packaging recyclable by 2030 A new commission regulation released in September 2022 deals with the use of recycled polymers as food contact materials.
So, there is a high demand to develop and use different methods to proof the safety of these materials. In this presentation strategies for safety evaluation by various analytical techniques will discussed.
Prof. Christian Klampfl (Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria)
- Lifestyle products for our health: Can we always trust in product labelling?
- Key message: Nutritional supplements are often consumed because of the health benefits connected with these products. Sometimes it may be wise to do a proper fact check of all the data given on the product label.
Dr. Vit Kosek (University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Czechia)
- Analytical challenges faced and decision making process in screening for potential emerging contaminants relevant to risk assessment by EFSA
- Key message: This talk will cover EFSAs approach to screening for emerging contaminants and mainly approaches to analytical challenges which necessarily rise from analysis of these compounds with very broad spectrum of physico-chemical properties.
Prof. Rudolf Krska (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, IFA-Tulln, Austria)
- Safeguarding our food chain: Novel strategies for the control and analysis of mycotoxins and other emerging contaminants
- Key message: There is a great need to develop a comprehensive suite of future-oriented frameworks, tools, analytical methods, strategies, models and guidance for advanced food safety risk identification, assessment and management, all of which will be widely accessible via the recently launched EU delivery platform FoodSafeR.
Dr. Angelo Maggiore (European Food Safety Authority, Parma, Italy)
- Food and feed safety vulnerabilities in the circular economy
- Key message: In the transition to sustainable food and feed production, it is crucial to recognize emerging risks associated with the use of new sources, practices and technologies in a circular bioeconomy context. Potential new hazards, exposure pathways and knowledge gaps need to be explored, in order to assess the adequacy of the current food and feed safety framework for assessing future risks.
Dr. Laura Righetti (Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands)
- Overcoming the challenge of identifying and quantifying emerging chemicals in non-targeted analysis
- Key message: Natural toxins have incredibly complex chemical structures, and factors like climate change, circularity, and reduced pesticide use will alter them even further. We need innovative methods to identify and annotate these emerging toxins. This talk will cover the application of novel approaches to enhance compound annotation in non-targeted studies.
Prof. Barbara Siegmund (Graz University of Technology, Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Graz, Austria)
- Sensory evaluation as essential technique for the determination of off-flavours in food
- Key message: The flavour of food is one of the most important quality criteria as it is directly perceived by the consumer. The occurrence of off-flavour, which might be caused by several reasons, is of serious concern for the food industry as it may cause significant economic damage. In this presentation, the role of sensory evaluation for the identification of off-flavour causing compounds will be discussed.
Prof. Milena Stranska (University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Czechia)
- Recent advances in understanding of mycotoxins in beer
- Key message: Beer is the second most popular alcoholic beverage consumed worldwide, and its frequent contamination by mycotoxins poses a serious problem. In this lecture, recent technological progress in minimising fungi and mycotoxins during malting will be introduced. Advances in methodologies usable for complex understanding of malt / beer safety and quality will be discussed.
Prof. Michele Suman (Barilla Analytical Food Science, Parma, Italy & Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy)
- Authenticity & traceability claims in food: How industry can objectivate them through analytical strategies
- Key message: Global food chains lengthen and grow in complexity. Food producers must comply with relevant food safety and authenticity regulations and avoid fraud risks that may affect brand reputation. This scenario could be faced with the use of both rapid screening and confirmatory analytical solutions that can be implemented within an overall vulnerability assessment and mitigation plan strategy.
Dr. Joris Van Loco (Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium)
- Analysing food additives: the good, the bad and the ugly
Dr. Bas van der Velden (Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands)
- AI in food safety: from methodology to Applications
- Key message: This talk describes the foundations of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning, and how they have the potential to revolutionize food safety. It will highlight potential for AI to identify safety risks in the supply chain and how AI can automate lab results and compliance testing.
Special opportunities for young scientists
- Ample space reserved in the main program for oral presentations given by young researchers
- Award(s) for the best poster presentation(s)
- RAFA 2024 competitive travel grants
Satellite events, seminars and workshops
Workshops on novel challenges:
- Workshop on “Vibrational spectroscopy and chemometrics”
- Workshop on “Smart data handling and AI in food analysis”
Interactive seminar – Be active and learn from each other:
- Step by step strategies for a fast development of smart analytical methods
Experts´ summit, EU and beyond:
- Session “AOAC INTERNATIONAL: Method Validation & Harmonization”
- Session “Food integrity from an EU – Asia perspective”
AOAC Europe Satellite Harmonisation Workshop
AOAC Europe is also pleased to invite you at RAFA 2024 Satellite Harmonisation Workshop that is organised on Monday, November 4, 2024, in Clarion Congress Hotel Prague.
Registration is FREE, more information about the program and how to register at https://aoaceurope.com/
RAFA 2024: AOAC Europe Satellite Harmonisation Workshop.
EC Reference Laboratories colloquium:
- Workshop on “Experiences, achievements and challenges by EU Reference Laboratories”
Workshops & Sessions on EU Framework Programs and other projects:
- Workshop on “Opportunities to collaborate in a European research and innovation area”
Vendor seminars & Exhibition:
- Vendor seminars introducing recent progress instrumentation and analytical strategies
- Exhibition of up-to-date instrumentation, laboratory equipment, screening tests, standards/reference materials, and consumables used in food analysis
Registration
Registration for RAFA 2024 is OPEN!
REGISTER HERE
After successful submission of your registration, you will receive by e-mail (i) an automatic confirmation of receipt indicating the total amount of payment due (either for bank transfer or for on-line payment by card), (ii) login to Member section where you can administrate your profile, submit your abstracts, and from September 2024 register for satellite events, workshops and seminars. If it will not be delivered within a few minutes after submission of your registration please contact us at [email protected].
As soon as payment of registration fee is processed, you will also receive by e-mail (iii) confirmation of payment.
Important notice:
Registration fee of those who have submitted an abstract for oral or poster presentation has to be received until** September 30, 2024**, otherwise these contribution(s) will not be included into the Book of Abstracts and the Conference programme.
The regular registration fee will include:
- Attendance at all scientific sessions, workshops, seminars, vendor seminars and other satellite events
- Access to the poster and exhibition area
- Conference kit (name badge, conference bag, conference documents, certificate of participation, certificate of presentation on request)
- Final programme
- E-Book of abstracts
- Coffee breaks
- Buffet luncheons
- Welcome drink
- In the registration form you can register free of charge for the welcome drink and you can also order ticket(s) for the conference dinner (€ 65).
Please note that your registration is firm when your payment has been received.
Cancellation policy
Only written cancellations can be accepted, to be sent to [email protected].
Payments will be refunded after the conference and when the following cancellation charges have been deducted: Cancellation before September 1, 2024 - refund 75%; no refunds after that date.
Substitution by another participant without cancellation fee is possible, but it must be communicated at [email protected] not later than by October 15, 2024.
Abstract submission
CALL for oral and poster presentations is OPEN!
SUBMIT ABSTRACT HERE
After registration you will receive an access to the Member section where you can submit your abstract(s). After successful submission of your abstract you will receive an automatic confirmation of receipt of submitted abstract via e-mail. If it will not be delivered within a few minutes after submission of your abstract please check at first your spam box-mail and then contact us at [email protected].
Please ensure that your abstract does not contain spelling, grammatical or scientific errors. Even though modifications of your submitted abstract will be allowed in the Abstract section of the Member section until the deadline for the abstract submission, please be confident on the lack of errors in your final version prior to starting the submission process.
The abstract will be reproduced exactly as submitted. No proofreading will be done, although some corrections may be requested by the reviewers.
If you need to withdraw your abstract, a written statement reflecting the reasons for this decision must be sent to [email protected] no later than September 30, 2024.
Important notice:
1 registered participant can submit no more than 2 abstracts.
To apply for a young scientist’s oral presentation, as an indication please respect the rule that you should be born in 1989 or later.
The text of the abstract should be limited to 3000 characters including spaces. Tables and pictures are not allowed.
Abstracts of oral presentations and posters will be included into the "Book of Abstracts" only after receipt of the conference registration fee. Any payment of the registration fee has to be received until September 30, 2024, otherwise contribution(s) will not be included into the Book of Abstracts and the Conference programme.
Poster award
The best poster presentation(s) will be awarded with the prestigious RAFA Poster Award and sponsored poster awards.
Poster and oral presentation instructions
Poster presentation instructions:
The poster presentation is an effective way to communicate your research to colleagues. It has become the "presentation of choice" for many scientists who present at RAFA.
Oral presentation instructions:
Oral presentations will require a Microsoft Office PowerPoint format and should be submitted at the symposium on a USB memory stick.
Sponsors, exhibitors a media partners
Information about the options offered by RAFA 2024 for sponsors, exhibitors and supporting partners
An exhibition of modern instrumentation and other necessary laboratory equipment, chemicals and consumables used in food analysis will be organized during the symposium. As an exhibitor or sponsor you would benefit from a high profile participation in an event reaching decision-makers, managers and practitioners in research, universities, government, agencies, and private companies. You are able to highlight your activity within the exhibition area and share your expertise, your practices and skills related to the symposium topics with the participants.
Vendor seminars will be organized to introduce recent commercial instrumentation and analytical strategies for advanced food quality / safety control.
Dedicated brochure for exhibitors and sponsors and Registration form is available on request.
For all information and requirements regarding the exhibition and sponsorship please contact directly conference exhibition manager Monika Tomaniova (e-mail: [email protected]).
Gold sponsors
RAFA 2024: Gold Sponsors.
Silver sponsors
RAFA 2024: Silver Sponsors.
Bronze sponsors
AFFINISEP
BIPEA
CEM Corporation
Cambridge Isotope Laboratories
DSP-Systems
GERSTEL
HPC Standards
Milestone
MOBILion
ProGnosis Biotech
TOFWERK
RAFA 2024: Bronze Sponsors.
Media and supporting partners
AOAC INTERNATIONAL
AOAC Europe
Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic
EU Food Safety Platform
Trilogy
RAFA 2024: Media and supporting partners.
