Agriculture & Food

On September 28, the Bird’s Nest Market Professional Committee of the National Federation of Urban Farmers’ Trade Centers (hereinafter referred to as the "National Bird’s Nest Committee") learned at the "2021 Bird’s Nest Industry Annual Meeting" that China’s bird’s nest imports will increase from 41.5 tons from 2016 to 2020. It rose to 340.4 tons, an increase of 7 times in 5 years, showing an explosive growth.

Zhang Yi, deputy director of the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Customs, said that my country has become the world's largest consumer of bird's nest, and bird's nest has gradually changed from a high-end consumer product to a mass consumer product, with more and more product forms that cater to the needs of consumers. . However, our country's bird's nest raw materials need to be imported completely. The countries that have obtained permission to import bird's nest products to China include Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and a total of 66 companies have obtained permission. The General Administration of Customs is advancing the process of importing bird's nest products to China from Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries, as well as the registration of new enterprises in the above three countries.

While continuously expanding imports, the General Administration of Customs has also increased its supervision. Since 2019, the customs department has seized a total of 13 batches of unqualified bird's nest products, and the relevant products have been returned or destroyed, and the export access of relevant enterprises to China has also been suspended.

It is understood that the main problem with imported bird's nest products is excessive nitrite content. In 2012, the relevant state departments formulated the temporary management limit value of edible bird's nest nitrite: the temporary management limit value of edible bird's nest nitrite is 30 mg/kg.

The General Administration of Customs has also speeded up the retrospective inspection of existing permitted enterprises and found some problems, and urged the relevant departments of the country where they are located to carry out rectification and suspend the access qualifications of some enterprises. On April 12, 2021, the General Administration of Customs issued Orders 248 and 249, which set out detailed regulations on the safety of imported products such as bird's nest, which will be implemented in 2022.