The 3rd International Feed Safety Conference was held in Wageningen, the Netherlands, from October 6-7, 2009. A wide range of topics was covered, including risk assessment of undesirable substances, feed safety legislation and action plans, novel developments in analytical methods, occurrence of different toxins as well as new and old challenges in feed safety. The lectures were interesting, in part even entertaining and there was plenty of time allocated to poster sessions. By that, exchange of scientific information was encouraged. The conference dinner provided good opportunities for relationship building and revealed the humorous part of the people behind the great names.

The conference counted about 150 participants from different countries and fields: Natural scientists, veterinarians, food technologists and representatives from the European Commission and from food and feed safety authorities. Thirty oral presentations were given and 42 posters were presented in 4 poster sessions. BIOMIN was represented by Dian Schatzmayr and Heidi Schwartz. Heidi Schwartz presented a poster about analysis of sphingolipids which are biomarkers for consumption of fumonisins.

The lectures were of high (scientific) quality and gave a good overview of not only the developments and advances in feed safety, but also of the concerns and difficulties. Most interesting for the BIOMIN attendees were two oral presentations on the legal and analytical aspects of mycotoxin adsorbents and denaturants.