Conference “Advances in Monitoring and Control of Viruses in Food Supply Chains”

1. Conference “Advances in Monitoring and Control of Viruses in Food Supply Chains” September, 5-7 2011

2. VITAL Project Full Title: “Integrated Monitoring and Control of Foodborne Viruses in European Food Supply Chain” Acronym: ”VITAL” The Meeting is organised by the VITAL Consortium, but it is open to international participation.

3. WHERE? • Ljubljana, Slovenia Biotechnical Faculty, Jamnikarjeva 101, Slovenia • WHEN? • September, 5-7 2011

4. Symposium Topics The programme of the coming event promises to be very interesting for both scientists and practitioners in the field of foodborne viruses. It covers mainstream topics like: • prevalence of viruses in European food supply chains, • risk analysis, • methods for virus detection, • physical and procedural control of virus contamination, • developing guidelines on prevention of contamination and • the need for regulatory control.

5. Symposium Topics The main topics will be covered by • Symposium, • Workshop and • Two training courses and will give you the opportunity to beupdated in the field of foodborne viruses.

6. Symposium Topics Training course “Monitoring of Viruses in Food Supply Chains” will be organized for training analysts who were not part of VITAL, in the principles of integrated monitoring and risk analysis which VITAL will formulate.

7. Symposium Topics Training course “How to Control Viruses in the Food Supply Chain Based on HACCP Principles” will focus on the integrated management systems which VITAL will recommend to the food industry. The course will provide information about virus hazards and appropriate HACCP.

8. Symposium Topics Workshop “Taking Forward New Developments in Monitoring and Control of Viruses in Food Supply Chains” will be an excellent opportunity for interested stakeholders, especially regulators, representatives of national and international bodies responsible for food issues and the food industry to discuss the outcomes of VITAL and the role of viruses in food safety and public health.

9. Congress Organizing Committee: Members: Dr. Ana-Maria de Roda Husman(NL) Dr. Apostolos Vantarakis (GR) Dr. Artur Rzezutka (PL) Dr. Franco Ruggeri (IT) Dr. Kris Willems (BE) Dr. Leena Maunula (FL) Mateja Ambrožič (SI) Dr. Nigel Cook (UK) Dr. Wim van der Poel (NL) Chairperson: • Dr. Peter Raspor, SI

10. Communication VITAL Congress Secretariat: Ms. Mateja Ambrožič University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Jamnikarjeva 101 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia e-mail: konf21@bf.uni-lj.si tel: +386 1 320 37 56 +386 1 320 37 53 fax: + 386 1 257 40 92

11. Keynote Speakers Until now we have conformation for following keynote speakers: Aleš Podgornik, Head of Research & Development at BIA Separations, Slovenia Carl-Henrik von Bonsdorff, Helsinki University, Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Finland Arie Havelaar, Deputy Head of Laboratory for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology, Centre for Infectious Disease Control Netherlands, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) / Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, The Netherlands Franco Maria Ruggeri, Research Director, Dept. Veterinary public health & food safety, National Institute of Public Health, Rome, Italy

12. On behalf of VITAL Consortium we welcome you to Ljubljana in September 2011.