Cornelis van Elst

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Cornelis van Elst — often referred to informally as Cees van Elst — is a seasoned expert in food safety, automation, and compliance with 25+ years of experience in the field. He combines deep technical knowledge with practical insight into how food companies manage safety and quality in complex, regulated environments.(Qassurance)

• Professional background:
  
  
  
  • Grew up in and began his career around microbiological laboratory environments, developing an early understanding of food safety at the scientific level.(Qassurance)
    
  • Studied Industrial Engineering & Management Science at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TUE) with a focus on IT and quality systems — a rare combination that underpins his systems-thinking approach to food safety compliance.(Qassurance)
    
  • Early in his career at Unilever, he saw the transformative potential of information technology in food safety management and quality systems — a perspective that would shape his later work.(Qassurance)
    
  
  
• Professional roles & impact:
  
  
  
  • Co-founder of iMIS Food (with Martijn Bartlema) in 2006, building one of the first integrated digital platforms for food safety management that supports real-time assurance, traceability, and knowledge structuring.(Qassurance)
    
  • Senior consultant, trainer, and international speaker on Food Safety Compliance, regularly presenting at industry events and contributing to best-practice frameworks for compliance beyond traditional audits.(Qassurance)
    
  • Lead author (and co-author of peer-reviewed work) on integrating learning organization principles, digital infrastructure, and risk resilience in food safety — notably in articles such as “Building Food System Resilience within a Learning Organization.”(Qassurance)
    
  
  
• Thought leadership:
  
  
  
  • Advocates moving beyond compliance checklists to continuous, real-time systems that support proactive risk management and adaptive learning — a central theme in Real-Time Food Safety Assurance.(SWP)
    
  • In his work he emphasizes that modern food safety performance relies as much on structured knowledge and feedback loops as it does on traditional standards and audits.(Qassurance)
    
  
  

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Publicaties