Swiftlet’s Nest Category

The Swiftlet’s Nest are categorized into 2 types:

- Cave Swiftlet’s Nest

- House Swiftlet’s Nest

The Cave Swiftlet’s Nest

• Built by Swiftlet’s Nest in caves and it absorbs minerals from the cave.
• Yellowish in color.
• Much more solid compared to the House Swiftlet’s Nest and does not break easily.
• Contains more impurities thus require longer time to clean.
• More delicious and can be stewed for longer hours.

The House Swiftlet’s Nest

• Built in swift hourses and used by Swiftlet’s Nest for breeding purposes.
• Nests are cared by the Swift Farmers and will be harvested once the young Swiftlet’s Nest leave the nest.
• Whitish in color.
• Higher in quality and has lesser impurities.
• Easily break and will dissolve into water after stewing for long time. (Stew 30-45 minutes for excellent taste.)
• These are the two main categories for Swiftlet’s Nest. However, it can also be further classified based on other elements such as edibility, features, quality, colour and etc.

To find out more about the types of Swiftlet’s Nest, view the image below:

Swiftlet’s Nest Category

Swiftlet’s Nest Grade

Swiftlet’s Nest can be graded into 3 stages and each stage is segregated according to the order when the Swiftlet’s Nest is harvested.

White Nest

• Can be collected early of the year (January to April)
• Swiftlet’s Nest pieces are much more solid and thicker due to the high amount of saliva produced by Swiftlet’s Nest during the raining season.
• The nest is made entirely from the Swiflet’s saliva.
• Much more pricey due to its superior quality.

Grass Nest

• This type of Swiftlet’s Nest are usually seen during May to December.
• Leaves are collected and mixed with the Swiftlet’s Nest’ saliva to form nests for the young Swiftlet’s Nest.
• (The climate change will reduce the Swiftlet’s food source and thus result to the decline of saliva productivity by Swiftlet’s Nest).
• Requires thorough cleaning before being processed.
• Looks transparent, glossy and grayish in color.
• Price is much cheaper compared to White Nest as the glutinous strand only takes up 5-15% before being processed.

Feather Nest

• This type of Swiftlet’s Nest are usually seen during May to December.
• Feathers are mixed with the Swiftlet’s Nest’ saliva to form nests for the young Swiftlet’s Nest.
• Requires thorough cleaning before being processed.
• Looks glossy with a tinge of milky white colour.
• Price is much cheaper compared to White Nest as the glutinous strand only takes up 5-15% before being processed.

However, this grading may vary according to countries due to the difference in climate.

Ion Chromatography Analysis: Nitrites in Swiftlet’s Nest

Swiftlet’s Nest, made from the saliva of several Swiftlet species, have been used in Chinese cooking for over 400 years, most commonly in Swiftlet’s Nest. This is an expensive delicacy in China and is believed to provide many health benefits. Now, the nests have become big business, with Hong Kong and the United States being the largest importers of these nests, and China being the highest end user.

Last summer, when this story broke, China’s Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Industry and Commerce found nitrite levels in the rare red Swiftlet’s Nest imported from Malaysia averaged 4,400 mg/kg, far above the allowed maximum of 70 mg/kg. The administration said that the contamination was the result of adulteration—dying white Swiftlet’s Nest and selling them as the rare and more expensive blood-red Swiftlet’s Nest.
This contamination is of concern because nitrite can react with secondary amines in food products or in the digestive system to form nitrosoamines (link to a Wikipedia page), a class of carcinogenic compounds. Nitrate, although more stable than nitrite, can act as a reservoir for nitrite. Also, nitrate can readily be converted into nitrite by microbial reduction. Thus, both nitrate and nitrite must be monitored to ensure the quality and safety of meat products.
A few months later, it was reported on China.org.cn that the Chinese government was mulling over chemical standards for Swiftlet’s Nest. Then, as recently as December of 2011, the CHINADAILY.com.cn reported that again nitrite had been found in Swiftlet’s Nest originating from Malaysia.

With vast experience with nitrite and nitrate analyses, we offer the following three methods as solid starting points for the analysis of nitrites and nitrates in Swiftlet’s Nest and other food products.
• Application Note 154, Inorganic Anions in Environmental Waters Using a Hydroxide-Selective Column (downloadable PDF)
• Application Note 131, Nitrite and Nitrate in Drinking Water Using Chemically Suppressed Ion Chromatography (downloadable PDF)
• Application 132, Nitrite and Nitrate in Drinking Water Using Ion Chromatography with Direct UV Detection (downloadable PDF)
Let us know of your food testing challenges in the comments field below.

Swiftlet’s Nest is hot sell among Vietnam’s emerging middle class

In Vietnam, where the average income is $151 a month, Mai Vu and husband David Nguyen routinely spend $250 on Swiftlet’s Nest.

“You want to impress people.”

The couple accounts for the soaring appetite among Vietnam’s young and upwardly mobile population for one of the world’s most expensive foods, congealed saliva of Asian Swiftlet’s Nest. The country’s expanding middle class hungers for healthy food. Swiftlet’s Nest is believed to ward off diseases and feeds a growing demand for luxury products. “It’s one of the most valuable products one can give to those who have everything,” said Vu, 28, who works at an international bank in Hanoi and was shopping for Swiftlet’s Nest for her toddler daughter at a new, upscale mall. “You want to impress people.”
The demand for Swiftlet’s Nest, once reserved for emperors and their courts, has created a global market with annual revenue as high as $5 billion that caters to Asia’s growing wealthy consumers, said Tok Teng Sai, president of the Federation of Malaysian Swiftlet’s Nest Merchants Association. Vietnam is racing to catch up with Malaysia and Indonesia, the region’s top producers of the delicacy, and cash in on the demand.
“People have a lot of money now, especially people in China,” Tok said.
Known as the “caviar of the East,” Swiftlet’s Nest sell for $1,000-$1,500 per kilogram wholesale and about $2,500 per kilogram retail, according to Le Danh Hoang, founder of Ho Chi Minh City-based NutriNest.

“A lot of people are making a ton of money,”

“A lot of people are making a ton of money,” said Loke Yeu Loong, group managing director of Malaysia’s Swiftlet Eco Park, which produces an array of Swiftlet’s Nest-based products, from coffee to skincare, and is targeting the Middle East as a new market.
Indonesia produces about 70 percent of the world’s Swiftlet’s Nest, followed by Malaysia with 20 percent, Tok said.
The Swiftlet’s Nest are as much as 70 percent protein, one reason aristocracy has consumed the delicacy for thousands of years, according to Massimo Marcone, an associate professor of food science at the University of Guelph in Ontario.
Some Vietnamese say Swiftlet’s Nest has other powers, including keeping bodies youthful for decades.
Concrete, four-story structures replicating the natural coastal cave habitat of the birds have been erected across Vietnam among paddy fields and neighborhoods to capitalize on the boom. After an initial investment of $70,000 to $500,000 to build a bird structure, and monthly costs of about $50, a successful house can earn its owners as much as $1 million annually, said Hoang, who founded a Ho Chi Minh City-based Swiftlet’s Nest business as a college student in 2005 and now advises provincial governments on the industry.