Meet CEO

During the 1930s, my father owned a manual gelatin factory in the tanneries area of Old Cairo. He assembled the raw material from the skins of cattle slaughtered in the nearby slaughter houses, and used it to produce glue manually. He sold his product to furniture makers and carpentry shops.

I graduated from Mechanical Engineering in 1986 and worked thereafter with my father in his gelatin industry. I loved the field and discovered that there had been no development in the gelatin industry in Egypt since my father started his work in the 1930s. the international market had seen many developments in the industry, a fact that prompted me to think about how to advance the gelatin industry in Egypt, especially that the source material for producing industrial gelatin is exactly the same as the material used to produce food and pharmaceutical gelatin.

I studied how to transform our manual factory into an advanced industry, and visited gelatin factories in Europe. The process required a lot of investment to purchase and install advanced machinery and world-class technology, as well as introduce labs to test and analyze the gelatin products during all production phases. The goal was to produce high-quality gelatin in accordance with the international standards.

In the year 2003, funding was made available and I was able to setup a gelatin factory in the city of 6 October. The factory was equipped with high-tech machinery all according to high level international standards. We started a line of production for gelatin-based food and health products.

We cooperated with German and Indian factories and introduced two more lines of production, and succeeded in producing the first batch of gelatin products in the year 2006.

The gelatin industry in Egypt relies solely on livestock, such as cows and buffaloes, from which the source material for gelatin is obtained. Therefore, unlike gelatin factories around the world, we do not use pig and pork skins. Also, all Egyptian cattle are slaughtered according to Islamic shariya law, which means that all our gelatin products are halal.

Our local halal gelatin products are made available for local consumption. Our halal products are also in high demand at most countries around the world to meet the needs of the increasingly large Muslim communities in the United States and Europe, as well as Arab countries.

Gelatin is a mixture of proteins, salts, and minerals. It is extracted from the skins or bones of animals, hence the name animal gelatin. In our factories, we rely on extracting gelatin from the skins of livestock that are brought from the tanneries. The leather (or animal skin) is then chemically treated and the white substance that is attached to the skin (known as collagen) is used to extract gelatin from.

It is worth noting that the skin; including human skin, contains collagen. The percentage of collagen decreases with age, hence leading to aging and the wrinkling of the skin as people grow old. The loss of natural collagen is compensated by using medical collagen.

As for livestock, collagen is found in cows and buffaloes only. This is to keep their bodies warm. The case is not the same with goats and sheep, which have thick wool coats that provides them with the warmth they need.

In our gelatin factories, we deal with each type of skin separately, as the weight of buffalo skin is different from that of the cows, and therefore each type is treated in a manner that fits its particular feature. The way leather is treated also depends on the animal’s age and weight. We have in our factories the necessary basins to deal with all types and weights of leather, thus ensuring the high quality of the product.

Additionally, we make sure that the leather is used on the same day of the skin tanning. This is to prevent using leather and skin that could possibly be contaminated. The leather is then chemically treated in our laboratories for a period ranging from twenty to thirty days, during which we control the temperature and the degree of alkalinity to ensure that we obtain the best types of gelatin products in terms of viscosity, transparency, smell, strength and cohesion. This results gelatin products produced according to the highest international specifications.

The gelatin manufacturing process is divided into several stages. We carry out the relevant analysis, measurements and tests during and after each production phase, thus ensuring any defects that may occur are treated immediately at each production stage. Throughout all processes, accurate and continuous quality control measures are taken. At the end of the production cycle, the final products remain under control for an additional 48 hours to ensure extra quality control.

Generally, all industries depend on experienced labor, as well as on technically advanced machines.

The gelatin industry depends mainly on the use of advanced technology without major intervention by workers. This is unlike the manual gelatin industry which depends solely on workers. The staff at El Amin factories is comprised mainly of engineers and technical teams who are highly experienced in operating and monitoring the operations of the machines. Technicians are trained on how to process the data and measurements for each machine and make sure the operational cycle is done accurately at each stage of production.

El Amin factories employ approximately 130 employees, including engineers, technicians, chemists and experienced staff. This is in addition to administrators, drivers and security personnel.

Our products are check and supervised by the Ministry of Health and the Veterinary Authority. We are also ISO 20000 and ISO 18000 certified. This is in addition to the Halal certification by Al Azhar.

The Ministry of Health and the Veterinary Authority also carry out periodic follow-up to ensure the continuity of production quality. We also have quality control measures and a microbiology lab at our factories to analyze gelatin during and post production. Thus, we succeeded in producing gelatin for local consumption use as well as for export.

El Amin gelatin is classified as 100% halal and competes in quality with international gelatin. This makes our products highly demanded. We export El Amin gelatin to the United Sates and Europe, as well as to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Algeria, Syria and other countries in the Arab region.

In cases of export, certificates are issued from the Ministry of Health and the Veterinary Authority, stating that the product is suitable for human consumption.

Gelatin used in the food industry contains protein, salts and minerals, which are necessary components needed by the human body. As for medical gelatin, it requires the removal of protein, salts and minerals from the gelatin. We have at El Amin factories the special machinery for the production of pharmaceutical gelatin.

In the medical and pharmaceutical field, gelatin is used to make soft and hard capsules, and the coating surrounding medicines, thus making it easier to swallow.

We supply our medical gelatin to local pharmaceutical companies as our products compete with the international gelatin products in quality and price. Our competitive prices, product quality and halal certification make our products in very high demand locally and internationally.

We set up an additional line of production I 2011 to meet the increasing demand for our gelatin products.

We also included medical and pharmaceutical gelatin to our product range. In the past we produced only industrial gelatin and gelatin for the food industry.

In 2015 we inaugurated a new factory next to the current factory, and added an additional line of production to increase our capacity to meet the growing demand for gelatin products.

Gelatin industry adopts the circular economy scheme, which is a model that preserves resources and reduces the percentage of waste to a large extent.

El-Amin factories have also succeeded in providing a gelatin product with international quality and local prices. This in turn is a great support to local companies in light of the current economic circumstances and the deficiency of foreign currency. Local consumers and local companies buy our gelatin products with Egyptian currency and get international quality gelatin.

Additionally, El Amin factories provide excellent job opportunities in different fields, thus supporting local employment.

We export high quality gelatin to counties around the world, and we are proud of our journey in the gelatin industry.