Detection of Nitrite in Cleaned Edible Bird Nest from Sumatra Island

Edible bird nest (EBN) is a bird's nest commonly made from the saliva of a swiftlet species, one of which is from species Aerodramus fuciphagus. As the largest exporting and production country, Indonesia must comply with the nitrite content standard set by China, which is 30 ppm. The maximum limit of nitrite content in EBN exported to China currently refers to the regulation of nitrite content in processed baby food because nitrite can cause poisoning and harm human health. This project aims to study and analyze the nitrite content in EBN from Sumatra as a reference and levels of nitrite policy in Indonesia. The number of samples was calculated proportionally from the data on the swiftlet houses using OpenEpi software. A total of 18 samples cleaned EBN from swiftlet houses were obtained from various regions of Sumatra Island. Samples were washed with one rinse. Samples were tested with the spectrophotometric method at The Center for Diagnostic of Agricultural Quarantine. The results showed that from the total 18 samples cleaned EBN; there was 72.22 % sample below than the nitrite content standard (30 ppm). The average nitrite in cleaned EBN is 30.19 ppm, while the median value in cleaned EBN from Sumatra is 15.42 ppm.