KUALA LUMPUR: THE Federation of Bird’s Nest Farmers of Malaysia (GPWM) not happy over a regulation by the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) that allegedly affects the export of raw edible bird’s nest from Malaysia.
Its president, Allan Ho, said the issue was in regards to regulations governing the export of raw uncleaned bird’s nest.
Exported raw bird’s nest falls under two categories, cleaned or uncleaned, with the latter forming the bulk of exports to Malaysia’s most lucrative bird’s nest market, China.
He said early last year, the Department of Standards Malaysia had been directed to draw up new standards for raw uncleaned bird’s nest, with the final draft displayed for public viewing until Oct 19 last year.
However, Ho said, DVS also drafted the “Good Manufacturing Practice for Raw Unclean Edible Bird’s Nest” code, which was allegedly similar to an earlier code.
“China has noted that both categories (cleaned and uncleaned bird’s nest) had been placed under one category, despite being different.”
He said it was quite difficult the raw uncleaned bird’s nest to meet the microbiological and chemical parameter requirements under a single specification.
“This will affect the export of raw uncleaned bird’s nest from Malaysia, which will harm the financial position of more than 60,000 farmers.”
Ho said since the uproar, the farmers had been waiting for the green light to export raw uncleaned bird’s nest from China adding that “since last year, only raw clean bird’s nest has been allowed to be exported to China by CNCA.
He said this was worrying, as 95 per cent of the country’s bird’s nest products comprised raw uncleaned bird’s nest. The new regulations set by China he said, made it difficult for the goods to be exported.
The Department of Standards Malaysia and DVS could not be reached for comment.
NSTP
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