Cabinet to look into bird’s nest guideline

Friday February 19, 2010
The Star


KUALA LUMPUR: The Swiftlet Industry Guideline, expected to be presented to the Cabinet next week, will give the industry a much-needed framework to operate in a sustainable manner.

The guideline, if accepted, will put Malaysia ahead of leading bird’s nest producers like Indonesia and Thailand.

“It will be the first swiftlet industry guideline in the world,” said Veterinary Services Department director-general Datuk Dr Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin.

The swiftlet industry is worth RM1.5bil annually.

The guideline, he added, would provide the framework to supervise the industry in a holistic way, including in terms of licensing, sampling, production and export of swiftlet bird’s nest abroad, particularly to China.

Dr Aziz said the guideline had the full support of the Health, Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, and the Housing and Local Government ministries.

The speed at which the industry grew over the last few years has resulted in a major dilemma over the licensing of swiftlet-rearing premises in shophouses, due to the health risk, smell and noise.

Federation of Swiftlet Nest Merchants Association chairman Datuk Beh Heng Seong said the guideline would resolve the problem as owners of premises would have to agree with the conditions if they wanted to remain in business.

“It will become a standard for all local authorities,” he said.

Malaysia has about 50,000 swiftlet premises producing over 12 tonnes of bird’s nest monthly.

One kilogram of bird’s nest can fetch RM4,000. – Bernama

Call To Accredit National Standard In New Fields

November 19, 2009 17:30 PM
Bernama


BANGI, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- The Department of Standards Malaysia has been urged to identify and develop national standard in new fields especially those with high commercial value.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili said this would support the efforts of turning Malaysia into a high-income country.

He cited fields such as halal, nanotechnology, biotechnology, information security, food security, medical devices, construction products and swiftlet nest, which should be focused on.

Noting that the target of the National Standards Strategy and Action Plan was to have 6,000 Standard Malaysia products by 2020, he said 94.25 per cent or 5,655 products had been accredited up to Sept 30.

"This means the Department of Standards Malaysia need to accredit 345 more products to achieve the target," he said at the National Standards and Accreditation award presentation here on Wednesday.

Earlier, he witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Standards Malaysia and the Malaysian Society for Quality in Health to forge a collaboration in healthcare.