Behind the Edible Birds' Nest Market, How to Protect Consumers’ Health Bottom Line?
In recent years, edible birds' nest has been considered a "high-end tonic" and has been touted by the market. However, with the popularity of the edible birds' nest market, various chaos have also followed.
In September 2024, an investigative report by Cover News revealed many irregularities in the edible birds' nest market, which once again aroused great public concern about this traditional tonic industry.
According to reports, some businesses sell so-called "wild cave bird's nests" through social platforms and e-commerce platforms, claiming that these yellow or red bird's nests are more nutritious than the common edible birds' nests on the market. However, after testing, it was found that these bird's nests had serious problems with excessive nitrite and mold. The nitrite content of some products even exceeded the national standard by 160 times!
In addition, sellers circumvent supervision and mislead consumers through false propaganda and non-compliant sales methods. The serious regulatory loopholes in the edible birds' nest industry hide potential threats to consumer health.
Under the operation of "capital", edible birds' nest is considered a "nutritious product" and is highly sought after in my country. It makes people feel that it is not only a tonic product of traditional Chinese medicine, but also a choice for many consumers to pursue health and improve immunity. Coupled with the various renderings of Hong Kong dramas and time-travel dramas, bird's nest makes people feel that it is a symbol of "identity and status". For a long time, it is precisely because of this high price and high demand that the edible birds' nest market has gradually become a hotbed for illegal merchants to "take advantage of loopholes". Although the protein content of edible birds' nest is relatively high, it is not much higher than other foods.
However, the production of edible birds' nests is limited and the collection process is difficult. If it is really edible birds' nests, I am afraid that even if the number of swallows increases 100 times, it will not be able to meet the market demand! In some areas, the sharp decline in the number of swallows and the high mortality rate of unknown reasons have caused people to worry about the sustainability of edible birds' nest collection activities. In order to protect the ecological balance, some countries and regions have begun to strengthen the supervision of edible birds' nest collection activities and introduced corresponding protection measures, such as limiting the collection season and quantity, and protecting the swallow habitat.
The concept of "wild cave bird's nest" mentioned in the report is a typical example of merchants taking advantage of consumers' blind trust in "natural" and "wild" products to hype up the market. Through the so-called "wild", "unprocessed" and "original" labels, these merchants give ordinary edible birds' nests a higher "value" (price) and sell them to consumers who are unaware of the truth at a high price. In fact, this kind of dark yellow or red edible birds' nest is not only not "rich in minerals" as claimed by the merchants; on the contrary, due to improper processing or deliberate fumigation, the nitrite content is seriously exceeded, posing a great threat to human health!
Relevant departments should strictly supervise the import, production and sales of edible birds' nests throughout the entire chain, not only strengthen the detection of nitrite content and product hygiene standards, but also update and upgrade the traceability code system to ensure that consumers can check product sources and quality information through formal channels. In addition, for those merchants who sell through live broadcast platforms and social platforms, e-commerce platforms should take the initiative to assume the responsibility of review and supervision, establish a more complete tracking and punishment mechanism, and seriously handle consumer reports, instead of always waiting for media exposure before taking passive actions.
Original Chinese Article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/61cn67DVfJ_S0zFoaoZasA
Translator: Maggie
Checked by: Richard
Contact: v10@cbcgdf.org; +8617319454776
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