1、 About Bird's Nest and Swallow's Nest
The bird's nest is formed by the saliva secretion of swifts such as the white nest golden swallow (Aerodromus fuciphogus) and the black nest golden swallow (Aerodromus maximus), which are mainly distributed in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Bird's nest is divided into home bird's nest and cave bird's nest. The nest of domestic swallows is made in the house for attracting swallows built by human beings; Cave bird's nest is produced in the caves on the island or at the seaside, and the yield is very small.
Swift refers to raw materials of bird's nest that have not been cleaned and processed, and are finally made into edible bird's nest after cleaning and other processing processes.
2、 About nitrite
Nitrite naturally exists in the environment, food and water, and is a food pollutant. The Limit of Pollutants in Food (GB2762-2012) stipulates the limit of nitrite in food, and the * upper limit of pickled vegetables is 20 mg/kg. Nitrite is also a food additive generally allowed at home and abroad, which is used as a color fixative and preservative for western style ham, canned meat and other foods. 《 Standard for use of food additives 》(GB2760) stipulates that nitrite is only allowed to be used in meat products, and specifies the specific residual amount. It is prohibited to use nitrite in other foods. Therefore, nitrite shall not be added in the production and processing of bird's nest. Adding nitrite is illegal and should be severely punished according to law.
3、 On the nitrite limit of edible bird's nest
Scientific research shows that there is nitrite in the natural bird's nest, and the content is related to a variety of factors, including the natural nitrite in swallow saliva, ammonia concentration in the swallow house or cave environment, bird dung pollution of bird's nest, etc. As nitrite is easily soluble in water, soaking and cleaning can significantly reduce the nitrite content of bird's nest, making the nitrite content of edible bird's nest only trace.
According to《 Food Safety Law 》According to its implementation regulations, in order to ensure the safety of edible bird's nest, the National Food Safety Risk Assessment * and Malaysian food safety experts carried out a cooperative study on the nitrite problem of bird's nest, analyzed the nitrite content changes of bird's nest in different processing stages and the possible health risks caused by it, Comprehensively analyze the nitrite content of cleaned bird's nest and the consumption of bird's nest by Chinese residents, and carry out the assessment. According to the risk assessment results, the former Ministry of Health issued the Letter on Notification of Temporary Management Limit Value of Edible Bird's Nest Nitrite (WBJH [2012] No. 62) in February 2012, stipulating that The temporary management limit of edible bird's nest nitrite is 30 mg/kg.
4、 Provisions on Nitrite in Swallow's Nest (source of Swallow's Nest)
According to the assessment of the expert group, the swallow is food raw material and not directly used for consumption. Unclean swallow can only be used for consumption after deep processing such as cleaning; According to the regulations, it is forbidden to add nitrite in the bird's nest artificially, but there is nitrite naturally in the swallow, and nitrite is highly soluble in water. The nitrite in the swallow can be significantly reduced after processing and treatment; Our country has formulated and announced the temporary management limit of nitrite in edible bird's nest. The standard operating procedures (SOP) are implemented in the production and processing of Maoyan, which can make its final products meet the limit requirements. Based on the above situation, it is not necessary to set nitrite limit for the swallow (the source of house swallow).
5、 Other management requirements
In order to ensure the safety of bird's nest, at present, only the Mao Yan from the house swallow is allowed to be exported to China. The label of Maoyan should indicate "only for deep processing in processing sites, not for retail markets". The production of Maoyan should strictly follow the standard operating procedures (SOP), and the bird nest processing enterprises should also strictly carry out sanitary management to ensure that the processed edible bird nest can meet the temporary management limit requirements. In addition, Maoyan is a food material of animal origin, which should also comply with the relevant provisions of inspection and quarantine.
