Test Methods for Nitrite Determination In Edible Bird Nest.

Faridah F.I., Ketty G.S.L., Akma N.H., Khairunnisak M., Norakmar I., Roosnoor F., Izwan I.

Nitrite content in Edible Bird Nest (EBN) has been a serious crisis for multimillion EBN industries. Various government agencies, research institutes, universities and industries are looking for suitable methods to overcome this issue. Several methods are available for the detection and confirmation of nitrite content in raw-clean and raw-unclean EBN as well as EBN products. The nature of nitrite contamination in EBN shows that the concentration varies in different spots in the same cup of EBN. Thus, correct sampling is critical to ensure the result produced is representing the true concentration of nitrite in the sample. The method of choice must be selective and sensitive to comply with the regulation set at 30 ppm for raw-clean EBN and EBN products. This paper will discuss available and commonly used test methods in nitrite determination, which are UV-Vis Spectrophotometer, Ion Chromatography and Handheld FTIR.