Dr.rer.nat. BSc MSc Andrea Hochegger

Groupleader of Food Safety

Phone:        +43 (316) 873 - 32507
EMail:    andrea.hocheggernoSpam@tugraz.at
Topics:   Food Safety

Experiences

Andrea Hochegger graduated in Chemistry from Graz University of Technology, Austria in 2017. Afterwards, she did her PhD in the field of analytical chemistry, focusing on packaging related food safety aspects and analytical contributions to the characterization of food and food contact materials. The main research interests include the analysis of mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) and the characterization and safety evaluation of food contact materials. She uses an interdisciplinary approach of instrumental analysis and bioassays to analyse toxicologically relevant substances and substance groups in the foodstuffs themselves, as well as to investigate the contamination pathways in the course of the production and packaging of foodstuffs. The development and application of novel analytical methods and coupling techniques based on multidimensional chromatographic separation systems (e.g. HPLC-GC-FID, GCxGC, LCxLC...) and different detectors (e.g. FID, FPD, SCD, MS...) play a key role in her research.

Her work has already been honoured with several awards, such as the P.B. Czedik-Eysenberg-Price, the Special Award "Tech for Green" as part of the Women's Award for Digitalization and Innovation from ORF and Infineon Technologies, the ASAC Young Analyst Award or the Leslie S. Ettre Award.

In 2024 she was appointed to a women's tenure track position at TU Graz and founded the new "Food Safety" working group.

Articles in peer reviewed journals

2024

Andrea Hochegger, Sanja Savic, Elisa Mayrhofer and Erich Leitner Spurensuche: Mineralöl in Lebensmitteln LVT Lebensmittel Industrie 3/24, 40-43, 2024

2023

Andrea Hochegger, Sebastiano Pantò, Nick Jones and Erich Leitner One-dimensional and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatographic approaches for the characterization of post-consumer recycled plastic materials Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 415, 2447-2457, 2023

Andrea Hochegger, Erich Leitner, Elisa Mayrhofer and Sanja Savic Mineralöl in Lebensmitteln - Was gibt es Neues Die Ernährung 47, 43-45, 2023

Andrea Hochegger, Sanja Savic, Elisa Mayrhofer and Erich Leitner Spurensuche: Mineralöl in Lebensmitteln - Forschungsprojekt entwickelt Nachweismethode für DNA-reaktive Mineralölfraktionen Secrets of Science Magazine 2023, 8, 2023

2022

Andrea Hochegger, Reinhard Wagenhofer, Sanja Savic, Elisa Mayrhofer, Michael Washüttl and Erich Leitner Combination of Multidimensional Instrumental Analysis and the Ames Test for the Toxicological Evaluation of Mineral Oil Aromatic Hydrocarbons Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 70, 16401–16409, 2022

2021

Andrea Hochegger and Erich Leitner Mineralölrückstände in Lebensmitteln GIT Labor-Fachzeitschrift 65, 28-30, 2021

Andrea Hochegger and Erich Leitner Mineralölrückstände in Lebensmitteln LVT Lebensmittel Industrie , 2021

Andrea Hochegger, Lisa Hoffellner and Erich Leitner Comparison of methods to simulate permeation through cellulose-based food contact materials Food Packaging and Shelf Life 28, 2021

Jussi Antero Lahti, Roman Poschner, Werner Schlemmer, Andrea Hochegger, Erich Leitner, Stefan Spirk and Ulrich Hirn How Different Carryover Pitch Extractive Components are Affecting Kraft Paper Strength ACS Omega 6, 29350–29359, 2021

2020

Andrea Walzl, Samir Kopacic, Wolfgang Bauer and Erich Leitner Comparison of the Functional Barrier Properties of Chitosan Acetate Films with Conventionally Applied Polymers Molecules 25, 2020

Werner Schlemmer, Melissa Sophie Egger, Madeline Dächert, Jussi Antero Lahti, Markus Gschiel, Andrea Walzl, Erich Leitner, Stefan Spirk and Ulrich Hirn Rapid Separation and Quantitative Analysis of Complex Lipophilic Wood Pulp Extractive Mixtures Based on 2D Thin Layer Chromatography ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 8, 12534-12541, 2020

2019

Andrea Walzl, Samir Kopacic, Wolfgang Bauer and Erich Leitner Characterization of natural polymers as functional barriers for cellulose-based packaging materials Food Additives & Contaminants/ Part A 36, 976-988, 2019

Andrea Walzl, Samir Kopacic, Wolfgang Bauer and Erich Leitner Charakterisierung von Biopolymeren Chrom+Food Forum 2019, 30-31, 2019

2018

Erich Leitner and Andrea Walzl Mineral oil residues in food SHIMADZU News 2018, 12-15, 2018

Samir Kopacic, Andrea Walzl, Armin Zankel, Erich Leitner and Wolfgang Bauer Alginate and Chitosan as a Functional Barrier for Paper-Based Packaging Materials Coatings 8, 235, 2018

Samir Kopacic, Andrea Walzl, Ulrich Hirn, Armin Zankel, Rudolf Kniely, Erich Leitner and Wolfgang Bauer Application of Industrially Produced Chitosan in the Surface Treatment of Fibre-Based Material: Effect of Drying Method and Number of Coating Layers on Mechanical and Barrier Properties Polymers 10, 2018

Andrea Walzl and Erich Leitner MOSH and MOAH Chrom+Food Forum 2018, X-XII, 2018

Other publications

2024

Andrea Hochegger and Erich Leitner Towards Sustainable Food Packaging: Ensuring Food Safety in Post-Consumer Recycled Plastic Materials

2022

Andrea Hochegger, Reinhard Wagenhofer, Elisa Mayrhofer, Sanja Savic and Erich Leitner A combined approach for toxicological evaluation of Mineral Oil Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Andrea Hochegger, Elisa Mayrhofer, Sanja Savic and Erich Leitner A Combined Approach for the Toxicological Evaluation of Mineral Oil Aromatic Hydrocarbons

2020

Jussi Antero Lahti, Werner Schlemmer, Roman Poschner, Andrea Hochegger, Erich Leitner, Stefan Spirk and Ulrich Hirn Influence of wood extractives on the performance of packaging papersProgress in Paper Physics Seminar: Abstract book of the PPPS2020 seminar September 1-3, 2020 in Jyväskylä, Finland

2019

Larissa Patricia Kolb, Andrea Walzl and Erich Leitner Analyse von Mineralölrückstände in der komplexen Matrix "Lebensmittel"

Larissa Patricia Kolb, Andrea Walzl and Erich Leitner Mineral Oil Residues in Food-Sample Preparation for Critical Matrices

Andrea Walzl and Erich Leitner Charakterisierung von Biopolymeren als Funktionelle Barrieren für Lebensmittelkontaktmaterialien

Andrea Walzl and Erich Leitner Evaluation of Biopolymers used as Functional Barriers against Mineral Oil Hydrocarbons Migration from Recycled Paper and Board

Samir Kopacic, Andrea Walzl, Ulrich Hirn, Armin Zankel, Erich Leitner and Wolfgang Bauer Application of Natural Materials in the Barrier Coating of Packaging PapersPTS Coating Symposium 2019

2018

Samir Kopacic, Wolfgang Bauer, Andrea Walzl, Rudolf Kniely and Armin Zankel Barrier Coating of PaperboardDITP

Samir Kopacic, Andrea Walzl, Wolfgang Bauer and Erich Leitner Barrier Coating using BiopolymersMinisymposium VT

2017

Andrea Walzl and Erich Leitner Characterisation of Functional Barriers for Food Contact Materials

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