The 11th International Symposium on RECENT ADVANCES IN FOOD ANALYSIS took place between November 5-8, 2024 in Prague, Czech Republic.
The organizers – the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague (UCT Prague, Czech Republic) and Wageningen Food Safety Research (WFSR), part of Wageningen University & Research (The Netherlands) – noted that the event has grown since the conference was launched in 2003. Events are usually attended by more than 750 participants from more than 50 countries representing Europe, Asia, America, Australia and Africa, and supported by more than 50 sponsors, exhibitors and media partners.
RAFA 2024 in numbers:
- 710 delegates participated
- 45 countries from 4 continents represented
- 141 lectures including 28% presented by young scientists
- 440 posters presented
- 34 companies exhibited & sponsored & supported the conference
- 8 media partners collaborated
- 6 poster awards sponsored
- 15 vendor seminars organised
- Regional distribution of all RAFA 2024 delegates: 11.7% Czech Republic, 79.2% rest of Europe (countries with participation above 1% – Austria 3.9%, Belgium 4.5%, Denmark 3.0%, France 6.8%, Germany 15.9%, Greece 1.4%, Hungary 1.0%, Italy 12.4%, Poland 2.8%, Portugal 1.6%, Netherlands 6.2 %, Serbia 1,7%, Spain 3.7%, Switzerland 3.4%, UK 6.8%), 4.5% Asia, 3.1% North America, 0.7% South America, 0.9% Africa
- Affiliation distribution of all RAFA 2024 delegates: 33% Academia, 24% Industry & SMEs, 17% Research institutes, 12% Governmental bodies, 8% Contract labs, 6% Other organisations (EU, trade organisations, press, other – consultants, NGOs, etc.).
The RAFA 2024 symposium provided an overview of contemporary trends in analytical and bioanalytical strategies for food quality and safety control and discussed challenges and novel approaches in food and natural products analysis.
The conference programme was accompanied by several satellite events on novel challenges, including for example workshops on “Vibrational spectroscopy and chemometrics”, and “Smart data handling and AI in food analysis”. An interactive seminar discussed “Step by Step Strategies for Fast development of Smart Analytical Methods”. The EU Reference Laboratories Colloquium included a workshop on “Experiences, Achievements and Challenges Addressed by EU Reference Laboratories”. The experts’ summit, EU and beyond provided insights into regional topics within two sessions “AOAC INTERNATIONAL: Method Validation & Harmonization” and “Food integrity from an EU – Asia perspective”. Another session offered overview of the “Opportunities to collaborate in a European research and innovation area”.
THEROS was invited and represented by its partner WirelessInfo to present both THEROS and Data4Food2030 projects at a workshop during the RAFA2024 conference.
The workshop took place on November 5, 2024. Ms. Sarka Horakova attended in person and brought a presentation in the form of a video narrated using AI.
The video is available here.
PHOTO GALLERY
