Clariant, a focused and innovative specialty chemical company, today announced its Masterbatches plant in Tangerang, Indonesia, has been certified by the Indonesian Council of Ulama (Majelis Ulama Indonesia) to meet the government Halal Product Assurance requirements.
Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, with a population of nearly 263 million people, of whom some 87% or 223 million are Muslim. Therefore, the Indonesian government established regulation No. 33/2014 on Halal Product Assurance, which covers not only food and beverages, but also drugs, cosmetics and “any goods that can be used and applied by humans.” The law extends to manufacturing processes and requires that packaging, which may include Clariant color or additive masterbatches, must also comply.
“By implementing a Halal assurance system and achieving a score of Grade A, products produced locally at our facility in Indonesia are guaranteed to be Halal-compliant,” explains Cun Sen, Country Manager, Clariant Masterbatches Indonesia. “Clariant only uses raw materials approved by the Indonesian Council of Ulama.”
Certification strengthens Clariant’s capabilities and leadership position as a supplier of high-quality, high-performance color and additive masterbatches in Southeast Asia. Applications supported by the Tangerang site include plastics caps and closures, food tabs and bottles, as well as film and sheet.
“In line with Clariant’s long-standing collaboration with current customers, we are committed to serving diversified markets by meeting local standards around the world,“ explains Chris Hansen, Regional Head of Clariant Masterbatches Asia Pacific. “In the case of Halal certification, we are now perfectly prepared to serve our customers in Indonesia and surrounding areas, and this is just the beginning. We certainly intend to transfer this knowledge and to offer Halal-compliant capabilities to other regions.”
Increasingly, global, regional and local regulations governing the way food, beverage and cosmetic products are made are also being applied to packaging materials that come into contact with those products. This is not limited to end-product or consumer packaging. Even packaging that holds raw materials being delivered to a plant, or packaging used to hold in-process materials or components, must also comply.
“Being a supplier with the relevant certifications and processes in place, we can simplify certification processes for our customers and their clients by operating in compliance with the same standards,” Cun Sen says. “They can be sure sure that the entire value chain applies comparable procedures to the ones they are using in their production lines.”
Source: http://www.clariant.com