CYBERJAYA: The Department of Standards Malaysia is developing edible bird’s nests production standards and test methods to determine the safe levels of nitrate content for consumption and to meet stringent export requirements for China’s market.
Director-general Datuk Fadilah Baharin said a comprehensive study was being conducted by the department along with the Health Ministry.
The new standards are expected to be introduced by the end of next year, she added.
She said high nitrate content could pose serious health risks such as cancer and China had banned the import of unprocessed swiftlet nests from Malaysia before for allegedly having high nitrate content.
However, the export of bird’s nests in processed forms or ready-to-eat jelly or drinks (in bottles) was not affected, she said in an interview.
Currently, only 50% of swiftlet farming companies were able to export bird’s nests to China, she said.
She added that “with the introduction of the standards, we expect that up to 90% of the companies could export their products.”
Fadilah said the standard swiftlet farming initiated by Standards Malaysia since 2010 were the first of its kind in the world.
The development of standards of raw bird’s nests for authentication, quality, grading, packaging and labelling started three years ago, she said.
She said besides China, the Malaysian swiftlet nest industry also targeted new markets including Hong Kong, Japan and Italy to capitalise on rising demand. — Bernama
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This pops up suddenly . We haven't heard anything regarding regulations, standards, guidelines, etc for a long time. It has fanned out. It seems that no one cares anymore about Swiftlet farming when the price of Raw birds nests dived below Rm 1200.00 per kg. There is no more lucrative money in the pot to attract those that are greedy.
It was totally silent and quiet for couple of years. Swiftlet farmers are in peace for a couple of years. A real peaceful situation. No one comes and "kacau". Many Swiftlet farms turned into Motels. Nobody is interested in Swiftlet farming.
What happened to the RFID? The bar-code? licensing? ( if I could remember)..........all disappeared and became history. There is no more fast money to make from Swiftlet farming industry.
Suddenly regulations and standards pop up again. Why? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. Guess what?
Raw nests price has gone up as the stock in China is running low. As soon as the price goes up ...people smell money and they know they could make fast buck. Trust me if the price of raw nests dived again I could assure you all regulations and standards will disappear again.....varnish in thin air without us noticing it. Malaysia Boleh.
Good Swiftlet farming All!
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