Bernadette Ossendorp has been appointed as Chief Food Safety Officer (CFSO) at the Netherlands Food and Product Safety Authority (NVWA) as of October 1, 2022. This function is important for optimal deployment of the NVWA’s supervisory capacity for the greatest food safety risks.

Bernadette’s position is also important for maintaining external connections of the NVWA in the field. Good contact with the business community, NGOs, the Ministries of Health and Agriculture (VWS and LNV) and authorities in other countries are a prerequisite for realizing societal tasks in the field of food safety.

Bernadette Ossendorp previously served a.o. as head of the Food Safety department at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). She studied chemistry at Utrecht University, majoring in biochemistry and minoring in microbiology and toxicology, and obtained her PhD at the same university on a biochemical subject. She was active for many years as a substantive expert on the risks of crop protection product residues in food and participated in various working groups and panels of both the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the Codex Alimentarius (a partnership of the United Nations, the WHO and the FAO). She then regularly had the role of chairman.