In the recent years, swiftlet farming industry in Malaysia has been growing tremendously. Malaysia is now the third largest producers of swiftlet bird nest after Indonesia and Thailand. Countries such as China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are the main importers for processed swiftlet bird nest. Although, Malaysia’s switflet farming has reach a matured industry level, swiflet raw bird nest processing industry is still an emerging business unexplored by the Malaysian entrepreneur. Therefore, a majority of swiftlet farmers trade their raw birds nest to a middle man for export which fetch a lower selling price. Generally, unprocessed nest fetch as low as RM2500 per kg to RM6,000 per kg. Whereas, processed nest could fetch a retail price as high as RM13,000 per kg to RM15,000 per kg in China and Hong Kong. So, why is Malaysia still lack of the industry for processing of swiftlet bird nest even though processed nest fetch a higher price as compared to the unprocessed nest?
Challenges in Processing Swiftlet Nest
Traditionally, bird nest is cleaned by soaking the nest in the water and workers struggle to hand pick all the tiny feathers by a tweezer. This procedure is extremely slow and tedious. An experienced worker may produce only 3 to 4 nest a day, weighing about 300 to 800 gram a month. Furthermore, such cleaning method could not produce a generally good bird nest "cup" shape and more often end up being bird nest biscuit which fetch a lower price and less in demand.However, some swiftlet farmers have developed method using chemicals to reduce the time and effort of their workers to clean the bird nest. Information regarding such method remained a highly trade secret and are not reveal to the outsiders. Until recently, a few companies emerged in providing consultation and training for swiftlet bird nest processing. There are different methods or procedures offered from various companies ranging from dry to Chemical Free method. Many people have attended such training course but were not completely contented simply the method thought was still far too time consuming and or could not produce generally good "cup" shape bird nest.
The right choice for choosing the cleaning method
Whether it a dry, semi-dry or chemical free method you choose to clean the nest, ultimately the method you use must be acceptable by the buyer. In general, a raw birds’ nest can contain or attached with feathers, egg shell, mold, bird’s shit, insects and bacteria. So, what is the fastest and effective method to remove all of these? First of all, to remove the tiny feathers attached in the nest strands, the nest need to be moist. This will enable the nest to soften and allow the feathers to be pull away from the detach strand. However, a heavily moist nest tends to break apart and difficult to mold back into a "Cup" shape.As of bacteria, mold and shit on the nest, water only could not completely remove this contaminant from the nest and therefore are still not safe for human consumption. Furthermore, for export quality, all food products are required to meet the bacteria count on the product not exceeding the limit for safe human consumption. While all contaminant on the raw nest need to be removed, the natural structure and shape of the swiftlet nest also need to be preserved. It is preserving the original form of the bird nest that makes the processed clean nest expensive. Despite the fact that many people continue to search and develop new method or procedure to maintain such exceptional high requirement, many will fail. The choice of the cleaning method will be ultimately determine by the bird nest buyer which they have a standard quality to comply. This standard quality determines the price of processed nest.
Developing the business
There are various approaches to develop and invest into the bird nest cleaning industry. Depending on your financial ability, you could start up by setting up a cleaning factory with the scale that is comfortable for you. Whether it is a small set-up from working at home or having 5 to 10 workers or more, depends on the following consideration. Some of the following points to consider when setting up a Birds’ Nest cleaning are stocks availability, cleaning processes, quality control, market, return of investment, licensing & regulatory requirement,
1.Stock-Where to get the raw nest? - Stock or raw materials apart from Raw Birds nest such as processing tools and equipment, needs to be taken into consideration. Most people will consider only the raw nest availability but forgetting the needs to ensure other raw material required for the processing of the raw nest. So before you start to employ the workers to process the raw nest, ensure your supplies of raw nest is sufficient for minimum of 3 months. This is because during the eggs laying season, the breeders are not allow to harvest the nest until the newly born swiftlet are able to fly and feed themselves. And during this time, it is usually a shortage of raw bird nest in the market.
2.Cleaning method – Is your cleaning method acceptable by the buyer? – Different cleaning method is available. Choosing the method acceptable by buyer is important. It is important to get your buyer confirmation on the method you are using before you start producing cleaned nest. Your buyer may not agree to certain cleaning method or quality of clean nest you produce without prior agreement. It is utterly important if the buyer can produce you some guidelines for the standard they required. Confusion or rejection of cleaned nest can be minimized if such guidelines are available.
3.Quality control – How to minimize reject and control my cleaned nest quality? – For all processing, you will need to implement a quality control program. As cleaning raw bird nest involve a lot of manual work, you will need a few quality control station beginning from the raw bird nest to the end product. Such quality control could be breakdown to intermediate station such as
1.Receiving Station
Grading Raw Nest – This to ensure that the raw nest you purchase is in accordance to the grade you required.
Weigh of Raw Nest – This to ensure your processed nest wastage does not exceed your estimation.
2.Processing Station
1.Brushing – Inspection of residual of mold and dots
2.Feathers removing – Inspection of residual fine feathers.
3.Molding – Inspection of gap and cracks.
4.Packing – Weighing of the cleaned nest. This will also indicate your final wastage of the processed nest.
4.Market – How do I market my product? – You will need to consider your target market for your cleaned nest. For export market, bird nest biscuit is very less in demand. Only complete bird nest cup shape is for export market. Would your marketing thru a local agent or direct to the local consumer. Would you be promoting your own brand? You would have to compete with some of the establish brand in the market.
5.Licensing- What sort of license required? For export of bird nest you need license by the Jabatan Perhilitan and Majlis Perbandaran. You will also need the buyer to obtain the import license from the designation country to avoid confiscation of your nest. However, if your buyer is a local agent who collect and resell, you would not be required to obtain such license.
6.Return on investment – How do I get back my investment.
Challenges in Processing Swiftlet Nest
Traditionally, bird nest is cleaned by soaking the nest in the water and workers struggle to hand pick all the tiny feathers by a tweezer. This procedure is extremely slow and tedious. An experienced worker may produce only 3 to 4 nest a day, weighing about 300 to 800 gram a month. Furthermore, such cleaning method could not produce a generally good bird nest "cup" shape and more often end up being bird nest biscuit which fetch a lower price and less in demand.However, some swiftlet farmers have developed method using chemicals to reduce the time and effort of their workers to clean the bird nest. Information regarding such method remained a highly trade secret and are not reveal to the outsiders. Until recently, a few companies emerged in providing consultation and training for swiftlet bird nest processing. There are different methods or procedures offered from various companies ranging from dry to Chemical Free method. Many people have attended such training course but were not completely contented simply the method thought was still far too time consuming and or could not produce generally good "cup" shape bird nest.
The right choice for choosing the cleaning method
Whether it a dry, semi-dry or chemical free method you choose to clean the nest, ultimately the method you use must be acceptable by the buyer. In general, a raw birds’ nest can contain or attached with feathers, egg shell, mold, bird’s shit, insects and bacteria. So, what is the fastest and effective method to remove all of these? First of all, to remove the tiny feathers attached in the nest strands, the nest need to be moist. This will enable the nest to soften and allow the feathers to be pull away from the detach strand. However, a heavily moist nest tends to break apart and difficult to mold back into a "Cup" shape.As of bacteria, mold and shit on the nest, water only could not completely remove this contaminant from the nest and therefore are still not safe for human consumption. Furthermore, for export quality, all food products are required to meet the bacteria count on the product not exceeding the limit for safe human consumption. While all contaminant on the raw nest need to be removed, the natural structure and shape of the swiftlet nest also need to be preserved. It is preserving the original form of the bird nest that makes the processed clean nest expensive. Despite the fact that many people continue to search and develop new method or procedure to maintain such exceptional high requirement, many will fail. The choice of the cleaning method will be ultimately determine by the bird nest buyer which they have a standard quality to comply. This standard quality determines the price of processed nest.
Developing the business
There are various approaches to develop and invest into the bird nest cleaning industry. Depending on your financial ability, you could start up by setting up a cleaning factory with the scale that is comfortable for you. Whether it is a small set-up from working at home or having 5 to 10 workers or more, depends on the following consideration. Some of the following points to consider when setting up a Birds’ Nest cleaning are stocks availability, cleaning processes, quality control, market, return of investment, licensing & regulatory requirement,
1.Stock-Where to get the raw nest? - Stock or raw materials apart from Raw Birds nest such as processing tools and equipment, needs to be taken into consideration. Most people will consider only the raw nest availability but forgetting the needs to ensure other raw material required for the processing of the raw nest. So before you start to employ the workers to process the raw nest, ensure your supplies of raw nest is sufficient for minimum of 3 months. This is because during the eggs laying season, the breeders are not allow to harvest the nest until the newly born swiftlet are able to fly and feed themselves. And during this time, it is usually a shortage of raw bird nest in the market.
2.Cleaning method – Is your cleaning method acceptable by the buyer? – Different cleaning method is available. Choosing the method acceptable by buyer is important. It is important to get your buyer confirmation on the method you are using before you start producing cleaned nest. Your buyer may not agree to certain cleaning method or quality of clean nest you produce without prior agreement. It is utterly important if the buyer can produce you some guidelines for the standard they required. Confusion or rejection of cleaned nest can be minimized if such guidelines are available.
3.Quality control – How to minimize reject and control my cleaned nest quality? – For all processing, you will need to implement a quality control program. As cleaning raw bird nest involve a lot of manual work, you will need a few quality control station beginning from the raw bird nest to the end product. Such quality control could be breakdown to intermediate station such as
1.Receiving Station
Grading Raw Nest – This to ensure that the raw nest you purchase is in accordance to the grade you required.
Weigh of Raw Nest – This to ensure your processed nest wastage does not exceed your estimation.
2.Processing Station
1.Brushing – Inspection of residual of mold and dots
2.Feathers removing – Inspection of residual fine feathers.
3.Molding – Inspection of gap and cracks.
4.Packing – Weighing of the cleaned nest. This will also indicate your final wastage of the processed nest.
4.Market – How do I market my product? – You will need to consider your target market for your cleaned nest. For export market, bird nest biscuit is very less in demand. Only complete bird nest cup shape is for export market. Would your marketing thru a local agent or direct to the local consumer. Would you be promoting your own brand? You would have to compete with some of the establish brand in the market.
5.Licensing- What sort of license required? For export of bird nest you need license by the Jabatan Perhilitan and Majlis Perbandaran. You will also need the buyer to obtain the import license from the designation country to avoid confiscation of your nest. However, if your buyer is a local agent who collect and resell, you would not be required to obtain such license.
6.Return on investment – How do I get back my investment.
Source: http://www.twelvespring.com.my/
Tổ yến dỏm bán trên thị trường. Ảnh: Thái Phương
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