Tolak Angin is a herbal supplement product produced in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

by Sido Muncul. Sold as a syrup packaged in yellow sachets, it is one of the most popular brands in Indonesia.

Product

The product contains, as ingredients,

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

, wild mint,

fennel Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized ...

cumin Cumin (, ; ; ''Cuminum cyminum'') is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the Irano-Turanian Region. Its seeds – each one contained within a fruit, which is dried – are used in the cuisines of many cultures in both whole ...

, screw tree,

cloves Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or fragrance in consumer products, ...

, and honey, with a claimed secret recipe. It is typically sold in sachets, priced at less than $0.25 each in 2014. Generally, it is consumed in Indonesia by people experiencing "masuk angin" or common cold – a general description for common ailments resulting in weakened immune systems. Several variants are manufactured, including sugar-free and child-oriented variants, and separate products such as Tolak Angin branded candies and

ointment A topical medication is a medication that is applied to a particular place on or in the body. Most often topical medication means application to body surfaces such as the skin or mucous membranes to treat ailments via a large range of classes ...

Brand

In Indonesia, Tolak Angin is ubiquitously used and is one of the most popular consumer brands, with the product being sold by millions of small vendors. The product is well-recognized because of its yellow

sachet Although its most usual definition is that listed under "packet" (see link above), a sachet can also mean a small scented cloth bag filled with herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, wit ...

packaging, which has been copied by similar products of competitors. The brand's slogan is "Orang pintar minum Tolak Angin" ("Smart people take Tolak Angin"). Outside of Indonesia, Tolak Angin is also sold in, for example,

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Exports outside Indonesia comprised around 5 percent of the product's sales in 2014. In 2016, it was reported that the annual production of the product was at 780 million sachets.

History

The mixture was reportedly first developed by Rahmat Sulistyo in 1930 as a family recipe. It was first sold to the public at

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...

in 1940 as a premixed

jamu Jamu ( Javanese: ) is a traditional medicine from Indonesia. It is predominantly a herbal medicine made from natural materials, such as roots, bark, flowers, seeds, leaves and fruits. Materials acquired from animals, such as honey, royal jell ...

Although due to the

Indonesian National Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution (), also known as the Indonesian War of Independence (, ), was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during A ...

the family moved to

Semarang Semarang (Javanese script, Javanese: , ''Kutha Semarang'') is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Netherlands, Dutch Dutch East Indies, colonial era, and is still an important regio ...

, and there in 1951, the company Sido Muncul was founded. It was sold as a regular

until 1992, when it adopted 15 ml sachets as packaging instead. The product is also sold in powder sachets. In 2015, Tolak Angin sachets sold in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

were given Prop 65 warnings which indicated that they contained lead. The distributor later clarified that the warnings were due to "abundance of caution". Sido Muncul opened a new production facility for Tolak Angin at

Ungaran Ungaran ( Dutch: ''Oengaran'') is a town and adjacent areas in Central Java Province of Indonesia. The town serves as the administrative centre of the Semarang Regency in that province. Ungaran is located at -7° 8' 17", 110° 24' 18" at an ele ...

, Semarang in 2018 with a production capacity of 200 million sachets per month, compared to 80 million in its prior facility.

References

{{reflist Products introduced in 1940 Patent medicines Indonesian brands Herbalism