Maastricht University (UM)

At Maastricht University (UM), everything revolves around the future. The future of our students, as we work to equip them with a solid, broad-based foundation for the rest of their lives. And the future of society, as we seek solutions through our research to issues from all around the world. Our six faculties combined provide a comprehensive package of study programmes and research.  

At the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) we focus on themes such as circularity and sustainability, future farming, digitisation and (scientific) instrument development. FSE's leading projects, like the Einstein Telescope Pathfinder, are sure to grab anyone's attention. The Faculty is a vibrant hub of education and research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS).

The Food Claims Research Centre (FCRC) is an innovative, interdisciplinary research department located at the Venlo campus of Maastricht University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering. We are dedicated to studying the generation, use and impact of scientific evidence in food-related policies and legislation. The research that we conduct contributes to improved uptake and implementation of innovative technologies by concurrently analysing procedures and processes of the full risk analysis cycle in EU food law. By combining insights from nutritional sciences, food sciences, law and regulatory sciences, public health and food policy, research questions are explored from an interdisciplinary perspective. We thereby aim to facilitate fair, safe, healthy and sustainable food choices for consumers in a transitioning food system.

Learn more about Maastricht University on the website. 

Dr. Alie de Boer (nutritional scientist) studies how scientific evidence is generated and used in food policy and legislation, and how such evidence-based approaches affect the implementation and application of food safety, nutrition and food system sustainability legislation. The cases she studies give us a better understanding of risk analysis in food law. Dr. de Boer has been actively involved in different (inter)national working groups and research consortia studying risk assessment methods and approaches, as well as risk analysis for nutrition and food safety. With her expertise in food law and post-market monitoring for food safety, she leads WP2 to develop a monitoring system and improve the information on novel food safety for (allergic) consumers. 

Mirte Florie is a PhD candidate studying food allergy monitoring and communication (WP2). She completed her master's degree in Health Food Innovation Management at Maastricht University and has previous work experience in the field of food labelling. She has a bachelor's degree in Nutrition and Dietetics and focused her theses on patients' nutrition experience using qualitative research methods. These experiences will she use to study adverse reactions to food products and subsequently improve food allergen labelling.