“I have met my counterpart in Beijing recently,” DVS director-general Dr Quaza Nizamuddin Hassan Nizam said, adding that the Chinese government had agreed to lift the temporary ban on the import of edible bird’s nest from Malaysia.

“This move will benefit 19 bird’s nest processing plants, with an estimated market worth of RM134 million a year in China,” said Quaza.

He said he would issue letters of certification to all 19 processing plants so that they could start exporting clean bird’s nest to China again, reported the New Straits Times.

However, one of the conditions set by China was that all the processing plants must use the heat treatment in processing the bird’s nest, said Quaza.

“Training on the proper procedures for the heat treatment will be provided,” he said, revealing that Chinese officials had also visited several of the plants recently.

Quaza said, however, China had yet to approve the import of raw, uncleaned bird’s nest from Malaysia.

Malaysia produces an estimated 25 tonnes of bird’s nest per month and is the world’s second largest producer of bird’s nest after Indonesia.

According to earlier reports, the swiftlet farming industry is expected to contribute RM4.5 billion to the country’s gross national income by 2020.