(Vienna, 05 March 2026) Regina Sommer, Professor of Water Hygiene at the Medical University of Vienna, was awarded the Hans Frenzel Medal of Honour by Korinna Schumann, Federal Minister of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection, for her outstanding services to the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus.
The Codex Commission advises the Federal Minister for Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection on all matters relating to food law regulations and prepares the Austrian Food Code, the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus.
The Codex Alimentarius Austriacus was established in 1891 to create uniform standards for the quality of drinking water and food.
Drinking water as a technical basis
Chapter B 1 "Drinking Water" of the Austrian Food Code forms the technical basis for assessing water quality in Austria. Regina Sommer has been chairing the Codex Sub-Commission on Drinking Water for 20 years.
About
Regina Sommer studied food and biotechnology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences. She completed her PhD at the Institute of Hygiene at the Medical University of Vienna, where she qualified as a professor of water and food hygiene in 1999 and has been an associate professor ever since. Since 1998, Sommer has headed the Department of Water Hygiene at the Institute for Hygiene and Applied Immunology, where she established the Hygiene Vienna testing and inspection centre, which has been accredited since 2004. Together with Andreas Farnleitner (TU Vienna, KL Krems), she is co-director of the Interuniversity Cooperation Centre (ICC) Water and Health, which she co-founded and which was established between MedUni Vienna, TU Vienna and Karl Landsteiner University Krems. She also received the Austrian Hygiene Award in 1992 and 2000, as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International UV Association in 2017. She has been a Fellow of the International Water Association since 2024, was Chair of the Austrian Society for Hygiene, Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, and Chair of the Codex Commission for Drinking Water of the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection.