THE Phoenix-based producer of adhesives and polymer dispersions, Quantum Polymers, has achieved ISO 22000 certification for its Food Safety Management System (FSMS). Significance is added to this milestone as the company is the only adhesive manufacturer in South Africa that supplies food packaging adhesives to achieve this specific international standard.
Firms in the food supply chain are coming under increasing pressure to achieve ISO 22000, which provides a framework to deliver safe food products consistently.
Quantum Polymers managing director, Vino Parumaul says, “This new ISO 22000 certification sits alongside our existing ISO 9001 (Quality) and ISO 14001 (Environment) certifications. It highlights our complete commitment to top-tier global standards in quality, environmental, and safety responsibility.”
Food and glue don’t sit comfortably together in the same sentence. Yet, Parumaul points out, glue is used in the packaging of most food products. It holds together the paper bags used to package products like sugar and flour. It’s used in takeaway boxes and sticks labels on most drinks bottles.
More than 60% of the company’s business is supplying adhesives and coatings to the food and beverage sector.
As a supplier to the major packaging companies, Parumaul explains that food safety compliance is becoming a priority throughout the supply chain. Incidents like the Nestlé scandal in the early 2000s put the spotlight on packaging when the Swiss multinational recalled millions of litres of baby milk across Europe due to ink contamination from packaging.
For Quantum, achieving ISO 22000 has been a proactive initiative. “In the last few years, there’s been an increasing demand from the end-user, maybe a KFC or McDonald’s, placing requirements on their suppliers – the packaging companies. As our customers, they then request that we follow food safety practices and exclude certain chemicals. I see more and more regulations regarding what goes into food packaging coming in the future. To stay ahead, we decided to be proactive about it.”
ISO 22000 is a system to ensure that any product that could come into contact with food has a reduced chance of contamination taking place. It looks at all potential causes of contamination to food and creates a system to minimise risk. “It’s a way of thinking,” he says.
As a third-tier supplier to the industry, Parumaul believes the certification will assist his customers to gain business. “ISO 22000 is rigorous and none of the other adhesive suppliers to the food industry, even the multinationals, have yet achieved this certification in South Africa,” he says.
Parumaul has worked in the glue industry for nearly 40 years and says the company’s journey to ISO 22000 certification started about ten years ago. For him, housekeeping, even in a glue factory, has always been a priority. “It was taken for granted – if it’s glue, it’s going to be messy. But, over time, through various influences, we’ve changed that. Housekeeping is a big part of ISO 22000.”
Going paperless is another key change that helped the company achieve the international certification. “Technology is a key part of it,” says Parumaul. “Two years before Covid, I’d already set a goal to become paperless. We implemented various things, including an electronic workflow system, and we shifted away from server-based data storage. Our workflow system is cloud-based, and when the Covid shutdown started, we were already having online meetings.”
Parumaul says most of the company’s growth can be attributed to its quick response to manufacturers.
He illustrates the importance of solving a problem quickly with examples of situations in which glue problems can hold up high-volume production lines – labels on bottles, bags for sugar and papers around cigarettes. “These plants run at units per hour, so rapid response can be measured in unit cost.”
Growth is also coming from a move towards more sustainable packaging. Whereas cakes, for example, were packaged in polystyrene in the past, Quantum now supplies inner coatings for cardboard boxes which can be recycled.
Looking to the future, Parumaul, who started the company as a chemist, sees technology making a disruptive impact on all businesses and believes that those who don’t embrace it risk being left behind. “If we are able to cut our costs and our competitors don’t, we’ll be far more competitive. For those companies that are not up to speed with electronic changes, their cost structures will be very different,” he says.
