LOCAL consumers have found it extremely difficult to refund their cubilose, or edible bird’s nests, following the recent exposure of cubilose containing excessive amounts of chemical nitrite in Zhejiang Province.

    Spot checks on blood-red cubilose, a rare type of edible bird’s nest, from 491 dealers in Zhejiang have shown that nitrite levels average 4,400 mg per kg, far above the allowed cap of 70 mg per kg. However, the poisonous food was not locally produced, but imported from Malaysia, a major producer and exporter of edible bird’s nests.

    Blacklisted by the quality watch dog in Zhejiang, Yanzhiwu, a domestic cubilose chain store, has required its dealers in China to change or refund the blood-red cubilose if consumers insist, the Shenzhen Evening News reported.

    However, the dealers in Shenzhen appear not to have followed the requirement. “We don’t accept any refund request,” said an unidentified staff member at a Yanzhiwu outlet on Meiyuan Road in Luohu District.

    In addition, tonic dealers in Futian farm produce wholesale market said that they would not change or refund the blood-red cubilose they have sold. “Our blood-red cubilose is from Indonesia and of good quality,” said a dealer.

    Some other local drug stores which sell the product insisted that no consumers have come to demand a change or refund, the paper said.

    Video footage obtained by the quality administration in Zhejiang shows that several dealers have admitted that almost all the blood-red cubilose on the market are ordinary bird’s nests that have been dyed, resulting in excessive nitrite levels.

    Edible bird’s nests, mostly made of the secretion from the salivary glands of birds, are an expensive delicacy and have been used in Chinese cooking for hundreds of years, and are traditionally believed to provide various health benefits. In Hong Kong restaurants, a bowl of bird’s nest soup can cost from US$30 to 100, according to media reports.

    (Li Hao)