The range of applications served by adhesives is broad indeed, with many forms of food packaging included in the list. Henkel’s recently launched “Food Safe Packaging” initiative is especially directed at those responsible for food safety, quality managers, packaging developers, purchasers and other stakeholders wishing to better acquaint themselves with the issue of food-safe packaging. Csaba Szendrei, new Head of Henkel’s Packaging, Consumer Goods and Construction Adhesives business talks about the importance of food-safe adhesives.
Csaba, why have you made food-safe packaging solutions one of our top priorities?
This is not a totally new priority for us. We have constantly worked on developing high-performance adhesives solutions for the food packaging industry, with a clear focus on minimizing consumer risk. It is also a key element of our sustainability effort. And last but not least, as a father of 3 kids, I also have a keen personal interest in this topic.
It is however true that we have progressively increased our focus on this topic and have recently launched a number of special initiatives to support our customers. And we have observed a distinct increase in demand for such activities.
How would you assess the importance of food safety in the food and food packaging industries?
This importance has significantly increased during recent years. There is a clear and growing global awareness and demand among consumers for safer and healthier products. This has a very significant impact on the food packaging industry globally. Although regional differences remain, the legal requirements are getting both stricter and more complex. We have identified a clear desire among our customers for increased support in the form of manufacturer expertise.
How do you assist your customers in the field of food-safe packaging solutions?
We have built a holistic, 360° expertise around food-safe packaging solutions. We already work with customers at the design phase of new packaging solutions. We also partner with specialized institutions and organize Food Packaging Safety symposiums involving both internal and external experts within this field. And we have intensified our R&D efforts in the development of a whole new range of adhesives for the associated applications.
What will be the future direction of Henkel Adhesive Technologies in this field?
We will continue to invest in this area. This is a very clear commitment. Our ambition is that every product innovation we bring to market should be better and safer in this respect. We will also continue to invest in supporting our customers on related matters globally. We see an increasing need for this in the emerging markets as well. In a nutshell, we want to live up to our commitment toward leadership in sustainability.
Szendrei (46), the successor of Jean Fayolle, is Hungarian by birth. He read Business Administration in Vienna and has been with Henkel for more than 21 years. His previous posts include Regional Manager for Russia and for the Middle East/Africa region. He also held lead responsibility for the integration of the National Starch businesses following their acquisition by Henkel.