Jan Hengstler re-elected SKLM chairman

Prof. Dr. Jan Hengstler, Head of the Department Toxicology, has been re-elected chairman of the Senate Commission on Food Safety (Senatskommission zur gesundheitlichen Bewertung von Lebensmitteln – SKLM) of the German Research Foundation. The term of office is three years.

Food safety and consumer health protection are top priorities for society. Constant innovations in the development of new processes or products in the food sector and a steady increase in scientific knowledge in this field, which is often the subject of controversial political and social debate, mean that there is a permanent need for scientific advice on the effects on food safety.

The Senate Commission works with scientific freedom in selecting topics and setting priorities and is the only independent science-driven body in Germany in the field of food safety. One of the SKLM’s main tasks is to develop policy statements and evaluation criteria to provide a framework for the scientific assessment of food ingredients and food technology processes.