Tom Heilandt

Tom Heilandt is a German national, currently Senior Liaison Officer in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Geneva office.

For 25 years Tom has worked in international standardization of food as:

• Secretary of the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission (2014-2023).
• Senior Officer in the Codex Secretariat responsible for communication (2005-2014). 
• Secretary of the UNECE Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards (1998-2005).

Previous work experiences: Scientific Affairs Officer in the Secretariat of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)(1994-1998); Software engineer for expert systems at Aion and Trinzic Corp (1992-1994); and as Applied Mathematician in chemical industry at Bayer (1990-1992).

Tom holds degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Düsseldorf (1989). He is fluent in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish and has limited knowledge of Mandarin. 

He is a member of the:

• Administrative Council of the Foundation « André-Levesque pour l'avenir de la relation (FAR) », in the Institut de France;  
• International Advisory Board of the Chinese Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment; 
• French Order of Agricultural Merit for his contribution to the establishment of the United Nations World Food Safety Day.  

Day: April 30
Time: 8:00 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.