.jpg)
The October 2023 passing of the California Food Safety Act and similar bills being considered in additional states, including Illinois Senate Bill SB2637, New York State Senate Bill S6055 and Assembly Bill A6424, and others, present significant challenges and opportunities for food scientists across the U.S.
Join IFT's Concierge Service on Friday, February 16, at 12 p.m. CT for an informative Lunch and Learn with top food toxicology experts Craig Llewellyn, PhD, and James R. Coughlin, MS, PhD, CFS. During the event, Dr Llewellyn and Dr. Coughlin will offer their perspectives on the history and widespread implications of these state-level actions on food products, supply chains, and businesses. This event will help attendees gain clarity on what they should be thinking about related to these proposed and active bills.
Featured Speakers
Craig Llewellyn, PhD, has more than 25 years of experience in toxicology, analytical food chemistry, scientific and regulatory affairs, designing and conducting scientific research, and product development from positions in academia; food, pharmaceutical, and coatings corporations; and state government. He provides scientific and regulatory evaluations and support in various areas including direct and indirect food additives, flavorings, food allergens, ingredients, and precursors used by food and beverage, cosmetic ingredients, dietary supplements, consumer products, specialty chemicals, and pharmaceutical industries. Dr. Llewellyn has a background in immunotoxicology, toxicology, and pharmacology from graduate studies at Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, and post-doctoral training with Eli Lilly and Co. He also has held positions with ingredient and product safety and global scientific and regulatory affairs responsibilities for SafeBridge Regulatory and Life Sciences Group, Kraft Foods, The William Wrigley Jr. Company, and The Coca-Cola Company. Dr. Llewellyn has participated in and held leadership positions in numerous trade and scientific organizations and coauthored or sponsored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and reports.
James R. Coughlin, MS, PhD, CFS, received his MS in Food Science & Technology, PhD in Agricultural & Environmental Chemistry, and postdoctoral training in Environmental Toxicology at the University of California, Davis, with a major research focus on heat-processed carcinogens formed during the Maillard Browning Reaction. He is a Certified Food Scientist and Fellow of IFT and was honored in 2020 with IFT’s Bernard L. Oser Food Ingredient Safety Award. Following his departure from UC Davis, Dr. Coughlin initially worked for 2 years at Armour Foods, then spent 10 years at General Foods and Kraft General Foods in external scientific affairs before undertaking independent food toxicology consulting in Southern California since 1992. He served numerous times as Chair of IFT’s Toxicology and Safety Evaluation Division and for 17 years as IFT’s Codex Subject Expert on Contaminants in Food. In addition, he served from 2002-2008 on the IFT Expert Panel assisting FDA in assessing food bioterrorism defense, as well as serving on two IFT Expert Panels advising FDA with FSMA implementation. He also served as President of the Paris-based Association for Science and Information on Coffee (and continues as a Board member) and as Vice President of the International Society for Trace Element Research in Humans. He specializes in global food safety and benefit-risk evaluations, risk assessment and risk communication of food additives and contaminants, and health and regulatory issues surrounding coffee/caffeine, nitrate/nitrite/nitric oxide, red/processed meats, GRAS ingredients, confectionary products, dietary supplements, California Proposition 65, and other major food/functional food/dietary supplement products and ingredients.