The Presidium of the Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI) has appointed Dr Frank Heckel (42) director of the Food Chemistry Institute (LCI) of the BDSI. He succeeds Prof. Dr Reinhard Matissek, who is retiring after 31 years at the head of the LCI Cologne. The new director of the LCI researches mainly in the areas of food safety (e. g. contaminants and process contaminants or acryl-amide in food), food quality and food analytics, prima-rily in the fields of cocoa, confectionery, fine bakery products and snacks.