Tuesday, July 21, 2015

New standards for safe nitrite levels in bird’s nest

CYBERJAYA: The Department of Standards Malaysia is developing edible bird’s nests production standards and test methods to determine the safe levels of nitrite 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.

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


Good quality edidble nest from Malaysia
High stardard of processing facilities and practices of strict hygience and sanitation
The best quality of cave nest from Baram cave located in Borneo.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Authenticity of Edible Bird's Nest

Authenticity of Edible Bird's Nest

In recent years, there has been increasing reports of fake edible bird’s nests.  Starting in the 1990s, the first comprehensive report on authentication of edible bird's nests were published.  These reports demonstrated the possibility to use scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis, flame atomic emission spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and other physico-chemical techniques to determine the authenticity of edible bird's nest. These tests were difficult to run, expensive and only worked on some of the substances used to imitate birds nests. Recently, a China based research team developed a simple but accurate and reliable spectrophotometry method to determine edible bird's nest content. The method is based on the reaction between N-acetylneuramic acid and ninhydrin in acid solution. The method evaluates the internal content of N-acetylneuramic acid, a nine-carbon sugars, which is one of the major components in edible bird's nest.

About the Author:   

Christopher W. Runckel, a former senior US diplomat who served in many counties in Asia, is a graduate of the University of Oregon and Lewis and Clark Law School. He served as Deputy General Counsel of President Gerald Ford’s Presidential Clemency Board. Mr. Runckel is the principal and founder of Runckel & Associates, a Portland, Oregon based consulting company that assists businesses expand business opportunities in Asia. (www.business-in-asia.com)

Until April of 1999, Mr. Runckel was Minister-Counselor of the US Embassy in Beijing, China. Mr. Runckel lived and worked in Thailand for over six years. He was the first permanently assigned U.S. diplomat to return to Vietnam after the Vietnam War. In 1997, he was awarded the U.S. Department of States highest award for service, the Distinguished Honor Award, for his contribution to improving U.S.-Vietnam relations. Mr. Runckel is one of only two non-Ambassadors to receive this award in the 200-year history of the U.S. diplomatic service.