Halal Certificate for Evonik’s Personal Care Business Line products

In order to meet customer requirements in Asia, the Middle East and the Maghreb region Evonik Industries commissioned an examination of its plants in Essen and Duisburg for compliance with Islamic law. As of November 15, 2013, Evonik Industries in Essen and Duisburg are classified as “pure” (tahir) and permitted according to ritual Islamic regulations and therefore evaluated as “Ḥalāl”.

Ḥalāl (Arabic for permissible) is any object or an action permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term covers and designates not only food and drink as permissible according to Islamic law, but also all matters of daily life. Muslims must also ensure that all food, as well as non-food items like cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, are Ḥalal.

Evonik Industries in Essen is entitled to use the Ḥalāl Certificate for the products manufactured there: Cocamidopropyl Betaines, a multitude of Esters (Sorbitan Esters, Glyceryl- and Polyglycerylesters, Glycolesters, Sucrose Esters, Emollient Esters) and Fatty Ethoxylates. In Duisburg the Ḥalāl Certificate covers various Esters (Glyceryl- and Polyglycerylesters, Sucrose Esters, Emollient Esters) and Zinc Ricinoleates.

This group of products does not contain any additives, which could be qualified as impure (najis) according to Islamic law, are not produced from any impurity (najasat) and do not get in contact with any impurity during the production process. Muslim experts have evaluated this based on the existing list of additives and additional detailed documents as well as the visits of the plants in Essen and Duisburg on November 7, 2013.

“With this certification we have achieved an important step to significantly expand our business opportunities for oleochemicals based ingredients for personal care in the globally emerging markets”, said Dr. Klaus Jenni, Senior Product Compliance Manager of the Business Line Personal Care.

The Ḥalāl Certificate has been issued by the m-haditec GmbH & Co Kommanditgesellschaft – cooperation partner of Islamic Centre Hamburg (Imam Ali Mosque), Islamisches Bildungs- und Kulturzentrum Österreich (Austria), Enzyklopädie des Islam (eslam.de), Member of Gütegemeinschaft Ḥalāl-Lebensmittel e.V. (RAL Gütezeichen) – an entity, that has already awarded other Evonik locations with this certificate. It is valid for one year (until November 14, 2014) and will then be renewed year after year. Evonik Industries will report any changes in the production process during the certified period.