Nestlé is already profiting from their farsightedness in Halal. Having been in Malaysia for close to a century, Nestlé Malaysia have managed to leverage on its deep understanding of the Malaysian and Muslim cultures to realise that Halal isn’t just about slaughtered meats.

“I think there are tremendous opportunities for the Halal industry, because we are clearly seeing an increased interest in Halal food consumption,” said Nestlé’s executive vice president and zone director for Asia, Oceania, Africa and Middle East Datuk Frits Van Dijk.

“Today, we at Nestlé have approximately 50 factories that are certified Halal for food and beverage manufacturing and we have over 100 dedicated Halal production lines.”

Sullivan O'Carroll

Nestle Malaysia Bhd managing director Sullivan O’Carroll said Halal was extremely important to Nestle. “We are the world’s biggest food company and because of that, we want to service and provide the right products to our consumers. There are over two billion Muslim consumers around the world. So it’s very important that we satisfy their needs.”

With an annual turnover approximating USD70 billion and more than 250,000 employees worldwide, Nestlé amassed a nett profit of USD 6.07 billion in the financial year ending 2005. Interestingly, the group recorded more than USD3 billion in sales from countries where Islam is practiced, and the number is increasing.

It is not hard to see why. According to Sullivan, Nestle Malaysia alone exports about RM470 million worth of products mainly to the Asian and the Middle Eastern markets. In fact, they export to some 45 countries worldwide. “We have been in Malaysia for about 93 years and we have a strong and stable business here,” said Sullivan.

Nestlé began in Malaysia in 1912 as the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in Penang and later moved to Kuala Lumpur in 1939 after growth and expansion made it necessary. Since 1962, with its first factory in Petaling Jaya, Nestlé Malaysia now manufactures its products in eight factories and operates from its head office in Petaling Jaya, and six sales offices nationwide.

The company was publicly listed on the KLSE on 13 December, 1989 and today, it employs over 3,500 people and manufactures as well as markets more than 300 Halal food products in Malaysia. It even included within its corporate philosophy a guarantee that all products manufactured, imported and distributed by Nestlé Malaysia are certified Halal by JAKIM or its affiliates.

Their efforts are not strictly confined to merely ensuring their products are Halal. Nestlé Malaysia has also undertaken several mentoring programmes beginning year 2000 to develop local SMIs in the food manufacturing industry. Offering advice and counsel on good food manufacturing processes, Nestlé Malaysia has so far trained 1,200 small and medium enterprises since the programme’s inception.

“And one of the modules is about Halal certification, Halal cleansing and Halal methods. We believe in this way we are helping the local industry build up the food knowledge and good manufacturing practices including Halal issues and requirements,” Sullivan added.

World’s Local Halal Committee
In ensuring that all of their manufactured Halal foods are 100 per cent Halal, Nestlé Group employs a tried and trusted methodology – the transfer of knowledge, from Malaysia to the rest of the world.

“Nestlé Malaysia is recognised in the Nestlé world as the centre of excellence for Halal issues. We have been working here with the government for many years and we have built up this body of knowledge that we are able to transfer to other Nestlé markets around the world,” said Sullivan.

Othman Md. Yusoff

The world is no small place, and Othman Md. Yusoff, the chairman of Nestlé Malaysia’s Halal Committee knows he has a massive responsibility. “As Nestlé Malaysia’s Chairman for Halal Committee, I am to ensure that all products that we manufacture and market in Malaysia, and those that we import from abroad, are all Halal and Halal certified,” he said.

“Each and every product of ours are ensured Halal right from the beginning, as early as the discussion stage,” Othman explained. “Our R&D offices in the US, Switzerland and Singapore knows that if the product is for Malaysia, it has to be Halal compliant. So when they source for raw materials, they must use only Halal compliant sources. Only then will they start producing the products.”

“In addition, we have a Halal checklist where we will scrutinise all raw materials that we use. Once satisfied, the document will be signed by the Halal committee for each factory and will then proceed to undertake the application to JAKIM for products we use in Malaysia and to IFANCA for products we import,” he went on.

First started during the seventies, the Halal committee became more organised during the mid eighties. When the Malaysian government instituted their Halal voluntary code during the early nineties, Nestlé Malaysia decided to comply with the option, thus having a head start among the rest of the food companies.

Today, the Nestlé Malaysia’s Halal Committee is made up of representatives from all departments within the organisation. It currently consists of representatives from the manufacturing, technology, marketing, legal, corporate affairs as well as regulatory department. This committee represents the entire organisation within Nestlé Malaysia. A strong support by the management is hence vital according to Othman.

“Nestlé Malaysia gets very strong support from our headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland to commit to Halal. Such strong support makes our Halal procedure implementation much easier,” said Othman.

“Over the last fifteen years, we have built on this knowledge because we wanted to comply with these requirements, and we are now in the position to share this knowledge with the rest of Nestlé world,” added Sullivan.

Global Opportunities and Challenges
By sharing Malaysia’s Halal expertise with the world, Nestlé is not only elevating Halal to the global business arena, it is actually taking Malaysia along for the ride. Despite their best efforts however, Sullivan said more could be done if Malaysia was truly serious in realising the global Halal hub vision.

“I think one of the key issues with Halal development is the question of trust. I think consumers like to trust a brand or an identity and I think Malaysia should take the lead in terms of redeveloping JAKIM as the standard for good Halal products for the consumers to trust,” said Sullivan.

“If they see too many different logos, they eventually get confuse, its like any other brand. We spend lots of money developing a brand like Milo, and I think Malaysia should develop the logo of JAKIM to give international credibility to our efforts here in the Halal developments.”

This vision for the development of a single global Halal standard is shared by Van Djik. “Nestlé very much supports a global standard and for one logo to be created. As a matter of fact, today, Nestlé Malaysia is using experts in our organisation here in Malaysia who are assisting us in (the) certification of many of our Nestlé factories outside of Malaysia.

“With the expertise that we have, and with our beliefs and with this involvement to have a proper Halal certification, Nestlé would very much support such a move,” he said.

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