Dr Francesco Planchenstainer, PhD, LLM is the Global Head of Food Law at Nestlé, based at the company’s corporate headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland. He joined Nestlé in 2023 and leads the company’s global legal strategy on food law with a focus on food policy, food innovation, food waste and loss, transparency and stakeholder participation.

Within Nestlé, Dr Planchenstainer also acts as Food Waste and Loss Co‑Lead Subject Matter Expert, contributing to the company’s sustainability agenda at the intersection of food law, innovation and policy. He additionally supports non‑financial and sustainability reporting.

Dr Planchenstainer completed his legal studies at the University of Trento (Italy), followed by a PhD in Food Law within the Agrisystem Doctoral Programme at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Italy). He later earned an LLM in US Law from Fordham University, New York, and is admitted to the New York Bar.

He began his professional career at Cherchi & Co., P.A. (2011) and as a Blue Book Trainee at the European Commission’s DG SANTE (2012). From 2012 to 2016, he served as Senior Regulatory and Food Law Expert at Mead Johnson Nutrition in Indiana (USA). He subsequently joined Ferrero in Luxembourg as Senior Regulatory Counsel (2016–2019) and later served as Food Compliance & Regulatory Director at Ferrero USA (2020–2022), supporting several strategic M&A initiatives. Prior to joining Nestlé, he was Regulatory Affairs Director at Impossible Foods, contributing to the regulatory strategy underpinning its plant‑based innovations. He is a Board Member of the European Food Law Association (EFLA) and food law lecturer at the University of Trento.