- Santa Clara site certified to key food-contact standard
- Joins 6 other sites achieving ISO GMP standards
- New status supports local and international customers in food-packaging market
Muttenz, December 17, 2019 – Clariant’s Business Unit Masterbatches, a leader in the field of color and functional additive masterbatch concentrates and compounds, today announced it has completed ISO 22000 certification for its site in Santa Clara Coatitla, near by Mexico city. The Mexican site is the first in the Americas, to have completed the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certification, and joins the global footprint of certified sites in Asia Pacific and Europe.
Certification strengthens Masterbatches global capabilities and leadership position as a supplier of high-quality, high-performance color for the regulated industries of food, healthcare and toys. Applications supported by the Mexican site include plastic caps and closures, food tabs and bottles, as well as film and sheet. In recent years, regulators have determined that packaging that comes in direct contact with food products must be considered a food ingredient and must meet the same standards for safety. Because Clariant’s color and additive concentrates are used in making plastic packaging, achieving ISO 22000 status for its manufacturing plants simplified the certification process for its customers and their clients.
“Our objective is to expand the business related to food contact applications and support our long-standing collaborations with current local and international customers in the region.” says Miguel Ramirez, Head of Region Latin America BU Masterbatches. “This success is a result of continous improvement measures we introduced into the site over a long period of time, and a sign of the long-term strategy and commitment of the business to serve high regulatory markets”.
ISO 22000 belongs to a family of international GMP standards such as ISO13485 for medical, devices, ISO22715 for cosmetics that address assessment and management of risk in the manufacturing and associated processes. ISO22000 is focused food-safety management and lists the measures that an organization needs to put in place to control eventual food safety hazards. These regulations are more stringent than earlier standards governing simple food contact. The need for such a standard is driven by an increased level of awareness of consumers towards food safety.
The certification process, which was overseen by SQS, a qualified Swiss provider of international certifications and audit systems, took roughly one full year and will undergo constant annual review.
