WIDNES, England—Emerald Kalama Chemical Ltd.'s food safety management system in Widnes, England, has met Food Safety System Certification guidelines, achieving FSSC 22000 certification status. This certification expands the portion of its ingredient portfolio produced according to FSSC 22000-certified standards.
The Widnes site already was certified for having met HACCP and GFSI standards. Emerald's other food-grade operations—located in Kalama, Wash., and Rotterdam, Netherlands—already are certified to FSSC 22000.
"Especially during this time of a global health emergency, there is heightened awareness about the importance of hygiene and sanitation, which are critical to protect the food supply chain and keep it moving,"Wendy Herbst, Emerald Kalama's vice president and general manager of Consumer Specialties, said in a statement. "We use rigorous, proactive controls at all of our sites to protect the quality of our products. By achieving FSSC 22000 certifications at all of our food-grade operations, we can guarantee that these controls meet the highest benchmarks in the industry for food safety."
The Widnes plant was acquired by Emerald Kalama in 2015 as part of the purchase of Innospec Widnes Ltd. The move expanded Emerald's offerings of fragrance and flavor ingredients.
Since bringing the Widnes facility into the Emerald fold, the company has introduced new products and invested $40 million in dual-source production of Kalama Hexyl Cinnamic Aldehyde.
"The investments we've made at the Widnes site have brought a lot of additional value to our customers by enhancing our capabilities," Herbst said. "The FSSC certification is a logical next step; it will provide our food and beverage customers with additional quality assurance, as well as alignment with our other food-grade operations globally."
Emerald Kalama makes ingredients for a number of applications, including rubber, adhesives, foods, beverages, fragrances, cosmetics and "other consumer and industrial products," the company said.
The Vancouver, Wash.-based company is part of Emerald Performance Materials.