PRESENTER BIOS
TOM HAMMACK, FDA
ISPAM SALMONELLA HARMONIZATION WORKING GROUP
Mr. Hammack has been research microbiologist with the Food and Drug Administration
since 1990 and has served as Chief of the Microbial Methods Development Branch of
CFSAN’s Division of Microbiology since 2009. He is a co-author of FDA’s
Bacteriological
Analytical Manual’s
(BAM)
Salmonella
and
Food Sampling and Preparation of Sample
Homogenate
chapters. In addition to his role as a BAM Chapter author, he serves as the
Chair of the BAM Council. His research has been concentrated on the development and
validation of cultural methods for the detection and isolation of
Salmonella
from foods. Over the last 10 years, the
emphasis of his research has been the detection and isolation of
Salmonella
from fresh produce. In addition to his
work in the lab, Mr. Hammack has an interest in food microbiology methods validation. Since 2004, he has served
as a General Referee (now Process Expert) for food microbiology for AOAC International. In that capacity, he has
overseen the validation of numerous microbiological methods for bacterial pathogens, such as
Salmonella
,
Listeria
,
and
E. coli
O157:H7 through AOAC International’s two methods validation programs: the Official Methods of
Analysis and Research Institute Performance Tested Methods Programs. AOAC validated methods are used by FDA
and commercial laboratories for the detection of pathogens in foods. Mr. Hammack also serves as Chair of the US
Technical Advisory Group to ISO TC 34/SC 9. ISO TC 34/ SC9 is the committee from which all ISO food
microbiological methods arise. He received his BS and MS degrees from the University of Maryland at College
Park.
ERIK KONINGS, NESTLE
CHAIR, AOAC STAKEHOLDER PANEL ON STRATEGIC FOOD ANALYTICAL METHODS
Erik Konings has been an active member of AOAC since 1997. He is currently serving as a
director on the Board of Directors and President of AOAC INTERNATIONAL. Previous AOAC
volunteer roles have included chairmanship of the SPIFAN Working Group on Folic Acid,
membership on the AOAC Methods Committee on Food Nutrition, and service as a General
Referee for Water Soluble Vitamins. Erik Konings started his professional career at the then
called Food Inspection Service in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Konings was involved with the
development of analytical methods for the analysis of vitamins in food and food products. In
1996 he started his PhD study “Dietary folates in human nutrition” in collaboration with the departments of
Human Biology and Epidemiology of Maastricht University. During this study, which he completed in 2001, he
obtained a MSc‐degree in epidemiology. Konings has worked as Senior Scientific Staff Officer in the department of
Research & Development of the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (VWA) in the in the Netherlands, as
Scientific Officer at the Data Collection and Exposure Unit for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in Parma,
Italy, and since June 2009, in a position in the Quality and Safety Department of the Nestlé Research Center in
Lausanne, Switzerland. Konings is convenor of a working group on vitamins & carotenoids of the European
Committee for Standardization (CEN), a member of the International Dairy Federation (IDF), Standing Committee
Analytical Methods for Additives and Contaminants, and participates in Codex Committee for Methods of Analysis
and Sampling (CCMAS). In 2012 he was appointed convenor for ISO TC 34 Working Group 14 on Vitamins,
carotenoids, and other nutrients. He has (co)authored more than 30 scientific publications.