Dr Fabrizio Anniballi is a food technologist responsible for the Italian National Reference Centre for Botulism at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità and coordinates the National Botulism Surveillance System. Fabrizio is also a member of the EFSA Network on Microbiological Risk Assessment and the ECEC Operational Contact Point for Botulism, as well as several ISO and UNI working groups that address the development and validation of methods and management systems in food safety. He has been appointed as an expert on CBRNe agents for the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. He has conducted studies on the development and validation of rapid and alternative methods for botulinum neurotoxins, on the genomic characterisation of BoNT-producing clostridia, and on mechanisms to mitigate the risk of botulism, including bio-competition and the use of bio-preservatives.