Product descriptions for edible bird’s nest carry a row of certification names. What those schemes actually decide, though, is not something the names tell you. When we looked, what the national standards set was almost always an upper limit on what must not be present. Here we list the standards and accreditations we were able to confirm, with their numbers and figures as they stand.
HOW WE WROTE THIS
The rules for this page
- We give standard numbers and figures only where we could confirm them in a peer-reviewed paper or in published material
- We also write what each scheme does not decide
- We do not write here which company holds which certification. We have not confirmed them one by one against primary sources
- We do not treat holding a certification as a mark of superior quality
What the schemes set is an upper limit
Nitrite
Malaysia, Indonesia and China agree on the same ceiling: 30 ppm or less (Yeo et al. 2021). How measured values differ by origin is covered in Is cave-harvested edible bird’s nest really safe? Heavy metals, and nitrite.
Heavy metals
Malaysia and China set lead at 2, arsenic at 1, mercury at 0.05 and cadmium at 1 ppm or less. Malaysia additionally sets copper at 1 and iron at 0.3 ppm or less. Indonesia has no provision for heavy metals (Yeo et al. 2021).
Micro-organisms
The ceiling on total plate count is 2.5×10⁶ cfu/g in Malaysia and 1×10⁶ cfu/g or less in Indonesia and China (Yeo et al. 2021).
Malaysian standards (MS)
MS 2334:2011
A standard for edible bird’s nest products. This is where the 30 ppm ceiling on nitrite and the ceilings on heavy metals are set.
MS 2273:2012
A standard for edible bird’s nest farming — that is, for production in birdhouses.
MS 2333:2010
A standard for processing plants.
MS 2509:2012
A standard for the test methods for nitrite and nitrate. Separately from the standards that set ceilings, there are standards that set how to measure. When figures are compared, which test method produced them matters.
Chinese standard
CAIQ-RZ-2015002
A Chinese standard. The ceiling on nitrite is 30 ppm or less, and it sets heavy metals at the same levels as Malaysia (Yeo et al. 2021).
Indonesia
A ceiling on nitrite of 30 ppm or less, and ceilings on micro-organisms, are set. There is, however, no provision for heavy metals (Yeo et al. 2021). In a study of 44 birdhouses in Indonesia, measured heavy-metal values fell between before and after washing (Wahyuni et al. 2022). Having no provision and not being measured are two different things.
Accreditation of companies
BioNexus status
An accreditation of companies, awarded by Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance and audited by the Malaysian Bioeconomy Development Corporation. What is examined: whether the company owns the technology itself, whether its research has been verified, the amount invested, its research set-up, the state of commercialisation, and its partners.
It is not a scheme by which the state guarantees the effect of a material. “Made by an accredited company” and “that compound does something” are two different statements. How the scheme came about is set out in The institutions named in these articles.
Food hygiene management methods
HACCP
A method of analysing hazards in a food manufacturing process, deciding the critical control points and monitoring them. It is not a standard specific to edible bird’s nest but an approach used across food generally.
What none of the standards contains
A required sialic acid content
None of the standards listed above carries a requirement that the product “must contain at least X% sialic acid” (Yeo et al. 2021). What these schemes set is a ceiling on what must not be present, not a floor on what should be. So the claim that “more sialic acid is better” has no backing in any standard. How the figure can shift by an order of magnitude depending on how it is measured is set out in Glossary of edible bird’s nest terms.
Grades
On grade labelling too, we have not been able to confirm anything set by a national standard. What grades look at, and what they do not, is covered in Grades look at appearance. They do not look at the process.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW YET
What is still unclear
- How it is treated in Japan. We have not yet confirmed from primary sources how edible bird’s nest is handled in import notification under the Food Sanitation Act
- Animal quarantine. “Birds’ nests” are not listed among the designated quarantine items published by the Animal Quarantine Service of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries — but that does not allow us to say quarantine is unnecessary, because actual treatment is judged by the item and its processed state. All we have been able to confirm is the fact that it is not listed
- Whether CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) applies. We have not been able to reach primary sources
- Standards in Thailand and Vietnam
- The latest revision status of each standard. We have not been able to follow whether anything newer than the editions listed here exists
DISCLOSURE
About this page
TSUBAMEDIA is run by Japan Bansho Co., Ltd. That company handles edible bird’s nest as a business and is not a neutral third party. We do not compare other companies’ products or judge one against another.
The standard numbers and figures listed here are quoted from published academic papers and from material published by each institution. They are not measurements of our own products or facilities. Nor does this page touch on certifications held by us or by our business partners. We will confirm those one by one against primary sources and write about them on a separate page.
SOURCES
- Yeo B-H, Tang T-K, Wong S-F, Tan C-P, Wang Y, Cheong L-Z, Lai O-M. Potential Residual Contaminants in Edible Bird’s Nest. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 2021;12:631136. doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.631136
- Wahyuni S, Salim MN, Aliza D, Sabri M, Rahmi E, Hambal M. An investigation of heavy metals in edible bird’s nest from Indonesia. Veterinary World. 2022;15(2):509-516. doi:10.14202/vetworld.2022.509-516
- Malaysian Bioeconomy Development Corporation official site (how BioNexus status is examined and audited)
- Animal Quarantine Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, list of “designated quarantine items” (confirming that birds’ nests are not listed)