Thursday, January 20, 2011

Gelatin Capsules

Thursday January 20, 2011
Halal and made in Butterworth
By DERRICK VINESH
thestar

NASMIR Holdings Sdn Bhd has invested RM15mil in a facility to produce halal gelatin capsules to meet the growing demand for halal-based products in Malaysia and abroad.

Its managing director Kadhar Shah Abdul Razak said Nasmir Hard Gelatin Capsules Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of the holding company, was originally established in 2004 as a distributor for halal pharmaceutical capsules imported from India.

He said eight staff members were sent to India two years ago to learn the technology of producing halal capsules.

“Last January, we started producing our very own capsules using three state-of-the-art machines that cost RM2.5mil each,” he said after the opening of the facility by Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir on Saturday.

Located on a 2ha plot of land near Bandar Sunway in Seberang Jaya, the plant has about 120 employees.

Kadhar Shah said the capsules, which received the Malaysian Islamic Development Depart-ment’s (Jakim) halal certification, use bovine gelatin imported from a Jakim-endorsed company in China.

The company can now produce 10 million capsules per day and is targeted to hit 40 million capsules daily by 2013 when it runs on full capacity with 12 machines.

He said 70% of the capsules were for local consumption, while the remaining 30% were exported to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Africa, Jordan and Dubai.

“We hope to obtain a sales revenue of about RM40mil to RM50mil a year when we reach optimum production capacity in 2013,” he said.

In his speech, Mukhriz said following the outbreak of diseases such as the bird flu and swine flu in several Asian countries, many nations were quite cautious about food hygiene and safety.

“And this has sparked a keen interest in food products that are prepared the halal way,” he added.

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