Dr. Frank Heckel is a state-certified food chemist and received his doctorate from the University of Würzburg. After a short period in a commercial laboratory, he was responsible for migration analysis, safety and quality at a well-known packaging manufacturer for 12 years. He has been working for the Association of the German Confectionery Industry since 2018 and became Director of its Institute for Food Chemistry (LCI) in 2019.
His research interests include food safety with a focus on (process) contaminants, but also food quality, always with a special focus on reliable and valid instrumental analyses. In terms of food matrices, he mainly deals with cocoa, chocolate, fine baked goods, ice cream, confectionery and savory snacks.
He is a member of the board of the German Cocoa Foundation, the BfR Commission on Contaminants in the Food Chain and several scientific advisory boards. He was recently elected to the board of the Society for Food Chemistry.
