Traditionally, the harvesting process is with least harm intended on the birds. The first harvest is carried out when the birds build their first nest. Harvesters will harvest these nest before there are any eggs laid; the poor bird will rebuild its nest (known as the second nest) but that’s as much heartache as they suffer.
The second harvest is performed after the fledglings leaves the second nest. So basically the birds are fine.
But I said ‘traditionally’. Obviously with growing demands and sellers simply not wanting to lose out on the profit cut, there is bound to be a breakaway from tradition.
Swiflet farming was born out of the demand for the nests. Now while this provided for the bird’s nest consumption market, the fact that it place under the Wildlife Protection Ordinance in certain countries is already sign that the farming might not be as straightforward or upright a trade.
Some just saw how farming these birds would upset the ecological balance of nature itself.
But swiftlet farming isn’t the only thing upsetting the course of nature, conventional harvest of the nests from wild birds have also taken a sharp turn. Instead of just taking the first nest and waiting for an empty second nest, harvesters just take everything leading to the decline in the number of the species.
Another concern about the bird’s nest trade is the safety of its consumption. Years ago no one has even heard of being poisoned by bird’s nest soup. Nowadays, that’s a completely different story. As you remember, wild swiftlets build their nests in the high walls/ceilings of dark caves and sometimes some of the minerals from the walls leach into it. Well thanks to the pollution of ground water, the risk that the bird’s nest are safe for consumption is no longer a just far-fetched idea.
Furthermore if you can recall from my previous article, different coloured bird’s nest fetch different prices. This leads the way to dishonest traders who resort to artificial chemicals to help them achieve the desired bird’s nest cake’s look, taste and texture just so they can earn the price of the authentic product!
So after all that reading, do you think bird’s nest soup is a sustainable source of food? Or does is it starting to sound like the sharks fin story?
