A batch of bird’s nest products made by the Yen Viet Joint-stock Companyin southern Ninh Thuan province has been certified to be free of theavian influenza H5N1 virus and safe.

Thecertificate for bird’s nest products is the first of its kind inVietnam, said Director of the Veterinary Medical Agency Region VINguyen Xuan Binh on May 15.

The same day, the agencyand Yen Viet, one of the leading producers of bird’s nest products inVietnam , signed a cooperation document that details periodical testsfor the company’s finished products, as well as all of its raw bird’snests.

In April, Ninh Thuan province culled nearly 10,000 swallows following tests that showed they had the H5N1 virus.

Thebirds account for nearly 10 percent of those bred at 592 Thong NhatStreet, Phan Rang – Thap Cham city, by the Yen Viet, where over 4,000swallows died between March 28 and early April.

The province then announced the epidemic on April 19 and took measures to disinfect the breeding area.

Lateron May 13, it officially announced that swallows raised in PhanRang-Thap Cham city's Dao Long district were free of bird flu.

Binh said though the H5N1 epidemic on swallows was over its information left negative impacts on the bird’s nest market.

He also noted that it is groundless to say that consumers could facerisks of catching the flu virus from bird’s nest products because theprocessing procedures of the products are strict and complex.-VNA