Fresh-Stewed Bird's Nest Leader Xiaoxiandun Obtains HFC International Halal Certification

Fresh-Stewed Bird's Nest Halal Certification Case Study

Tina Hu

SINOQUAL's 2021 Most Improved Employee of the Year and an outstanding certification specialist, Tina has many years of experience in the foreign trade industry. She is now primarily responsible for the entire certification process — including preliminary consultation, document review, and factory inspection — for enterprises pursuing Halal certification, Kosher certification, and Vegan certification, having successfully served nearly 100 enterprises.

After certifying bird's nest industry leader Yan Zhi Wu, Xiaoxiandun marks SINOQUAL once again handling a top-tier renowned enterprise in the same sector — an excellent demonstration of my capabilities. Relying on SINOQUAL's professional team and audit expertise, I smoothly completed the qualification certification for the enterprise while providing a premium service experience throughout.

In this process, I sensed even more refined operations within the enterprise and a higher pursuit of qualifications — which also represents a better development future for Chinese enterprises.

Carrying the "Made in China" calling card, let more countries around the world be won over by the brand appeal of Chinese enterprises!

As China's leading fresh-stewed bird's nest brand, Beijing Xiaoxiandun Biotechnology Co., Ltd. carefully selects bird's nests from Malaysia and Indonesia. With the founding aspiration of making it easier for more people to enjoy a bowl of fresh, nutritious, and delicious bird's nest, the company insists on recreating bird's nest as good as that slowly stewed over low heat in a stewing pot. Its product sales have led the nation for five consecutive years, ushering bird's nest nourishment into a new era of fresh-stewed bird's nest.

As an important part of Chinese-style nourishment, bird's nest has a history of over 600 years, with multiple ancient Chinese texts documenting its consumption history and nutritional value. Only the nests built by swiftlets are the precious nourishing delicacy known as bird's nest. The nest is not the swiftlet's residence but its nursery bed — once the fledglings grow up and leave the nest, it is no longer used, so the swiftlet's living environment must not be damaged during harvesting. Only after seven processing steps can bird's nest reach export standards.

Considering that bird's nest, as a beauty-enhancing and nourishing delicacy, is sought after and loved by consumers around the world with an ever-expanding audience, the certification specialist handling Xiaoxiandun's Halal certification project recommended the HFC Halal certificate, which holds mutual-recognition credentials from authorities including the International Halal Integrity Alliance, the European Certification Center, Pakistan's highest Halal certification authority, Thailand's official Halal agency, and Korea's highest Halal certification body. This lays the foundation for Xiaoxiandun's sugar-free and rock-sugar fresh-stewed bird's nest products to be exported to Halal consumer markets across Europe and America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Southeast Asia.

Currently, the domestic COVID-19 situation has tightened again, affecting all industries to varying degrees, and many enterprises' Halal, Kosher, and Vegan certification plans have stalled as a result. To address this, SINOQUAL provides enterprises with a full online certification coaching service experience. The on-site factory inspection step can also offer convenient video factory audits based on the enterprise's actual situation, greatly reducing certification costs, further accelerating the progress of obtaining certificates, and minimizing enterprise losses caused by pandemic-related work and production stoppages. Regarding this Xiaoxiandun certification project, the certification specialist also made the following summary.

Were there any key challenges in this certification?

Any product involving animals requires attention during the Halal certification process. As a swiftlet derivative, bird's nest — specifically the swiftlet's saliva — is Halal. The Islamic jurisprudence committee previously approved this, and the supplier also provided the corresponding bird's nest raw material certificate.

What should be noted for video factory audits?

We confirm the video factory audit time with the client and certification body in advance, and depending on the client's situation, we can conduct a mock audit with the client beforehand to improve the pass rate of the actual video audit. If the certification body requests supplementary documents, the factory must submit them promptly to avoid delaying the certificate issuance progress.