The 4th edition of the EMBA’s International Donor Milk Research Congress has been held on 17th of June in Milan.

Following the warm welcome by the EMBA President Prof. Sertac Arslanoglu, the first Session started. In this Session chaired by the EMBA Vice President Clair-Yves Boquen, EMBA Working Groups presented their work and plans fort he future. A short presentation regarding EMBA’s new european Project- IMAGINE has been also included.

This year EMBA hosted two distinguished speakers; Stefaan Van Der Spiegel, from the DG-Sante, European Commission; and Jacinto Sanchez, from the European Directorate fort he Quality of Medicines & Healthcare (EDQM). Donor human milk is being regulated under the name of SoHO for the first time and inputs from these two lectures have been of utmost importance. While Stefaan spoke about the new legal framework with respect to donor human milk in the context of the new european reagulation on SoHO; Jacinto gave us insights why the EDQM Tissues and Cells Guide is of interest for human milk banks. The discussion following these 2 talks have been remarkably committed and fruitful.

The Research Congress continued with selected Oral Communications and Posters from France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Türkiye, United Kingdom, and United States. Human milk and its impact on neonatal morbidities, breastfeeding management in specific maternal diseases and cultural contexts, human milk composition changes by time and with different sources of fortifiers, human regulation, the methodology of the systematic reviews as aid to WHO guidelines, digitalization and softwares have been the discussed topics.

The EMBA Research Congress ended following the General Assembly.

We thank all our audience, speakers, presenters, and sponsors for their contribution. And say… “See you in Venice next year at the EMBA International Milk Banking Congress!”

Save the date: 16-17 October 2025