KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
FREDERIC LEROY
SESSION 1 - Meat science communication and education
Keynote lecture: Meat matters: making the case for a valuable food in a hostile environment
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Frédéric Leroy graduated as a Bioengineer (Ghent University, 1998) and obtained a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB, 2002), where he now holds a professorship in food science and (bio)technology. His research deals with food processing, biosafety, and quality, as well as with nutrition, health, and interdisciplinary (social and cultural) "food studies". He is a member of academic non-profit societies, i.e., the Belgian Association of Meat Science and Technology (BAMST, president), Belgian Society for Food Microbiology (BSFM, president), and Belgian Nutrition Society (BNS). On a non-remunerated basis, he also serves on the Scientific Board of World Farmers' Organization (WFO) and the FAO/COAG Sub-Committee on Livestock, among others. He published some 150 peer-reviewed publications, leading to an h-index of 55 (Google Scholar), and was honoured with the 2022 Award of the European Federation of Animal Science.
BRAD KIM
SESSION 2 – Muscle biology & biochemistry
Keynote lecture: Role of postmortem bioenergetics in beef color chemistry
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Brad Kim is a Full Professor of Meat Science leading the Meat Science and Muscle Biology research program at the Department of Animals Sciences at Purdue University.
He obtained his MS Degree in Meat Science from Kansas State University in 2004, and PhD in Meat Science (muscle biochemistry) from Texas A&M University in 2008. Subsequently, after postdoc training at Iowa State University, he worked at AgResearch, New Zealand as a Senior Research Scientist. Since 2014, he has been a member in the Department of Animal Sciences at Purdue University (USA).
Prof. Kim’s research focuses on identifying key biochemical mechanisms governing meat quality and developing systematic post-harvest strategies to improve meat quality attributes.
He has published numerous articles including more than 102 peer-reviewed articles, 4 book chapters, 4 patents, 28 proceeding articles, and more than 100 abstracts for national and international conferences. Prof. Kim has been successful acquiring research grants over $4.6 million in research grant funding as the Principal Investigator, with sources of funding that include the multiple USDA-NIFA AFRI grant awards. Prof. Kim currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief for Meat and Muscle Biology (official journal of American Meat Science Association). Prof. Kim has been recently appointed as a Brain Pool Research Fellow by the Ministry of Science, Korea. He received the 2018 Outstanding Young Researcher Award (Midwest ASAS) and Distinguished Achievement Award from AMSA.
ELISABETH HUFF-LONERGAN
SESSION 3 - Omics Sciences
Keynote lecture: Omics approaches – Their potential for answering complex questions in meat science research
Elizabeth Huff-Lonergan is a University Professor in the Animal Science Department at Iowa State University (USA). She received her BS in Food Science at the University of Missouri/Columbia and her MS and Ph.D. at Iowa State University. She was on faculty at Auburn University before joining the faculty at Iowa State University. Her research centers on improving the efficiency of muscle growth and improving fresh meat quality. The Lonergan lab research program (joint with Dr. Steven Lonergan) uses cutting-edge protein chemistry techniques to find effective, practical solutions for the livestock industry. Prof. Huff-Lonergan is a fellow in 3 societies - IFT (Institute of Food Technologists), American Meat Science Association (Signal Service Award), and the American Society of Animal Science. She has been awarded the Distinguished Research Award, and the Distinguished Teaching Award for the American Meat Science Association, and the Meat Science Research Award for the American Society of Animal Science. In 2022 she was honoured by being named a University Professor for Iowa State University. In addition to her faculty job, she has been Editor-In-Chief of the journal “Meat and Muscle Biology” and is currently the Editor-In-Chief of the “Journal of Animal Science”.
KOSTAS KOUTSOUMANIS
SESSION 4 - Meat safety
Keynote lecture: Risk-based decision support for meat safety and quality management
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Kostas Koutsoumanis is a Full Professor, Head of Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Hygiene, and Head of the Department of Food Science and Technology in Aristotle University, Thessaloniki (Greece). In 2000 he obtained a Ph.D. in Food Science from the same University. After serving as a Research Associate in the Department of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University (USA) he took a Lecturer position in the Department of Food Science and Technology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2002 where he became Full Professor in 2017. Currently, he teaches several graduate and MSc courses (General Microbiology, Food Quality and Safety Assurance, Predictive Microbiology and Risk Assessment and Applied Statistics in Food Science). Since 2011 he has been a member, from 2015 to 2018 vice-chair, and since 2018 chair of the European Food Safety Authority's Biohazard Panel. (EFSA). From 2018, he is a member of Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) roster of experts. As a principal investigator or co-investigator, Kostas Koutsoumanis has received over € 3.5 million in grants for research in the field of microbiological quality and safety of foods. His research is focused on the microbiology of foods including predictive microbiology, microbial risk assessment, single cell microbiology, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) etc. Results from the above research have been published at more than 190 refereed scientific journal articles, 15 book chapters, and 150 papers in conference proceedings with more than 9500 citations and h-index=59
GIOVANNI BITTANTE
SESSION 5 - Animal biodiversity
Keynote lecture: Biodiversity and genetics of beef quality
Giovanni Bittante received a MS Degree in Agricultural Sciences (Padova University, Italy) in 1976. He became Full Professor of Animal Science and Genetic Improvement at the same University. He was Director of the Department of Animal Science, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and of the Faculty of Agriculture. He is in charge of the interdisciplinary Courses of Food and Environment, and of Animals, Economy and Society, and teaches in the PhD Course on Animal and Food Science. He was coordinator of the FAO Italian national focal point for farm animal biodiversity and member of the EAAP Council. He is member or president of Italian Herd Book technical commissions of several beef and dairy cattle breeds. His research deals with safeguarding and valorization of animal genetic resources, milk and meat quality improvement, and environmental impact of food of animal origin. He published 257 articles with 5,520 citations and a H-index of 40 (Scopus) and was honored with the 2020 EAAP Leroy Award.
LUIGI FAUCITANO
SESSION 6 - Animal Welfare & Production Systems
Keynote lecture: Pig production systems and related effects on preslaughter animal welfare and meat quality
Luigi Faucitano obtained a PhD in Animal Science at the University of Bologna (Italy) in 1996 and conducted post-doc studies on preslaughter management of pigs in Spain and Brazil. Since 1999, he has been meat scientist at the Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre of Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada in Sherbrooke (Quebec). He has more than 30 years of research experience in the field of preslaughter handling, animal welfare and meat quality, particularly in pigs. He produced more than 300 publications and presented a significant number of invitations as key-note speaker at the national and international level. He has sat in expert member committees providing expert opinions on pig handling and transportation to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the Canadian National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC). In recognition of the excellence of his research outputs and significant impact on the Canadian livestock industry, he has been the recipient of two Canadian Society of Animal Science awards
VÉRONIQUE SANTÉ-LHOUTELLIER
SESSION 7 - Traditional Meat Products
Keynote lecture: Levers to reconcile cured meat products with health concerns and culinary heritage
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Véronique Santé-Lhoutellier is a meat scientist. She is Research Director at INRAE (French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment) and she was head of the Department « Quality of Animal Product » in the period 2016-2022.
She graduated as Bioengineer at Clermont Auvergne University in 1987 and obtained a PhD in Food Sciences and Biochemistry in Clermont Auvergne University in 1993. In 1996, she was postdoc at the Muscle Biology Laboratory, University of Madison WI, USA. She worked for the French Poultry consortium until 2000 when she joined INRA, now known as INRAE. She leads or co-leads several projects dealing with strategies to reduce salt and additives in meat products with health issues.
Her current research interests pertain to achieving healthy diets from sustainable food systems. She has authored more than 135 peer-reviewed published papers. Recently, she has coordinated a joint expertise on the “Quality of Animal-source Foods” https://doi.org/10.1016/j.animal.2021.100376. She is member of the Scientific Committee of the SFN - Société Française de Nutrition, she serves on the Scientific Board of Pig Institute (IFIP) and she was the chair of ICoMST 2015, in Clermont Ferrand, France.
IGOR TOMASEVIC
SESSION 8 - Innovation in meat processing
Keynote lecture: Pulsed electric fields and meat processing: latest updates
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Igor Tomasevic graduated as Engineer of Food Technology of Animal Products in 2000 and obtained a PhD in Biotechnology Field of Food Science and Technology in 2011 at the University of Belgrade (Serbia), where he now holds a full professorship in Food Science and (Bio)Technology. He is also a Guest Professor at University of Lublin (Poland) and University of Eastern Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Currently, he also holds a position of a Research Associate in German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL). His research deals with meat and dairy processing, sensory analysis, food safety and quality management, as well as with consumers and the sustainability of the food industry. His professional training took place at Texas A&M University (USA), University of Jerusalem (Israel), University of Ghent (Belgium), IRTA - Institute of Agri-food Research and Technology and University of Valencia (Spain). He published some 170 peer-reviewed publications, leading to an h-index of 30 (Scopus), and was rated in the top 2 percent of the world’s most-cited scientists (2022) by the Stanford University.
LIEVEN THORREZ
SESSION 9.a - Meat alternatives: opportunities or threats?
Keynote lecture: Cultured meat production: what we know, what we don’t know and what we should know
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Lieven Thorrez is an Associate Professor at KU Leuven. He has a multidisciplinary background in Biomedical sciences, encompassing research in development of viral vectors for targeted gene delivery, stem cell biology, muscle tissue engineering, applied bioinformatics, systems biology and evolutionary biology. He obtained a PhD at KU Leuven (Belgium) in 2005 and after postdoctoral research at Brown University and Harvard University, he established the Tissue Engineering Lab at KU Leuven in 2012. He teaches Histology, Methods in Biomedical Research, Tissue Engineering and Medical Literature.
His current research involves cell isolation, expansion and characterization, engineering a blood vessel network in muscle, development of methods for muscle stimulation and de- and recellularization methods towards applications including drug testing, regenerative medicine and cultured meat production. His laboratory is involved in several national and European projects and collaborating with industry, offering tools for drug testing and providing consulting services
YOULING XIONG
SESSION 9.b - Meat alternatives: opportunities or threats?
Keynote lecture: Meat and meat alternatives: where is the gap in scientific knowledge and technology?
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Youling Xiong is a University Research Professor at the University of Kentucky, USA. He teaches advanced meat science, food chemistry, and protein functionality. His research program focuses on protein chemistry, functionality, and applications. The emphasis is on the interactions of animal and plant-derived proteins and peptides with natural and functional food compounds for healthy food production. He has vast experience with structural modification of proteins utilizing various enzymatic and physicochemical methods (proteases, cross-linking agents, ultrasound, pH shifting, thermal processes, etc.) to promote solubility, oil-water interfacial activity, and structure-forming properties of proteins. His lab has trained 65 M.S./Ph.D. students and postdocs and published over 320 research papers in scientific journals. He is a speaker at numerous international conferences. He has been recognized with many national and international awards and received the Bertebos Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. He is a former scientific editor of Journal of Food Science, a current editor of Food Bioscience, and an elected fellow of IFT, ACS-AGFD, IUFoST, and AMSA.
LUCIANO PINOTTI
SESSION 11 - Alternative feeds to improve meat sustainability
Keynote lecture: The effects of alternative feed Ingredients on red meat quality: A review of algae, insects, agro-industrial by-products and former food products
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Luciano Pinotti is Full Professor in Animal Nutrition at the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences (DIVAS) of the University of Milan (Italy), where he is also coordinating the Doctorate School of Nutritional Science. In his career, he spent 1 year at the Animal Nutrition Group in Lelystad (The Netherlands). His current research deals with: i) Feed quality and safety, feed evaluation with emphasis on alternative feed ingredients like former/ex food, insect meals, etc. for sustainable animal nutrition; ii) impact of animal nutrition on animal products quality. He is coordinator or partner in several national projects, and involved in two international projects, and two European ones. Prof. Pinotti is a member of the Technical Scientific Committee of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna 'Bruno Ubertini”. Since 2019, he has also been President of the Animal Nutrition Study Commission of the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP).
ISABELLE BALTENWECK
SESSION 13 - Role of meat in food security
Keynote lecture: Opportunities for livestock and meat to improve food security in low and middle income countries
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Isabelle Baltenweck is a development economist with twenty years of postdoctoral experience in agricultural systems in Africa, South and South-East Asia, with a focus on livestock value chains. She has been based in East Africa for the last 20 years, working at the International Livestock Research Institute - ILRI (Nairobi, Kenya).
Starting her career as a development economist with an emphasis on adoption and impact assessment studies in livestock systems, she has increasingly sharpened her skills in gender and social equity research, looking at how women and men’s needs and capabilities differ in terms of accessing and using technologies and practices, also resulting in varied, and sometimes opposite, impact. She works at the interface of research and development, working with the private sector, farmers’ groups, ministries, NGOs and investors. Her work has a direct relevance to the activities of development practitioners and the private sector, and resulted in publications targeted at that audience. In addition to leading the ILRI research program on ‘Policies Institutions and Livelihoods’, she leads the CGIAR’s Sustainable Animal Productivity for Livelihoods, Nutrition and Gender inclusion (SAPLING) Initiative, that brings together partners from ICARDA (International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas) and CIAT (International Center for Tropical Agriculture), in addition to the ILRI researchers.
ALICE STANTON
SESSION 14 - Meat and Health
Keynote lecture: Meat in Human Health and Nutrition - Reflections on “Too Little” / “Too Much”
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Alice Stanton is a clinician-scientist. She is a Professor in Cardiovascular Pharmacology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and Director of Human Health at Devenish Nutrition.
Her current research interests pertain to achieving healthy diets from sustainable food systems. She has authored in excess of 140 peer-reviewed published papers.
She served on the Committee developing “Ireland’s Agri-food Strategy to 2030”, and as an Assembly Member for the Horizon Europe Cancer Mission. She is a Member of the Irish Climate and Health Coalition, and of the World Action against Salt, Sugar, and Health (WASSH). She has delivered many lectures concerning evidence-based healthy diets from sustainable food systems, including the Science Lecture, entitled "Food Quality & Human Health – The Evidence", at the 2020 Oxford Farming Conference. Most recently she was lead author on a letter, published in The Lancet, which robustly questions the reliability of the Global Burden of Disease 2019 collaborators’ estimates of deaths attributable to unprocessed red meat.