Abstract

This work investigated the chemical and mineral compositions of a farmed edible bird's nest (EBN) of Collocalia fuciphaga collected from different regions of Thailand: the Trat province in the east, the Phetchaburi province in the west and the Nakhon Si Thammarat, Satun and Narathiwat provinces in the south. The chemical composition was determined according to official AOAC methods and an inductively coupled plasma-based technique used to analyse the minerals. The results revealed that all of the EBNs examined mainly consisted of protein (61.0-66.9%) with 15.9-31.6. mg/g protein of essential amino acids and carbohydrates (25.4-31.4%). Sulfur-containing essential amino acids (methionine and cysteine) and glutamine were the main amino acid constituents. Major mineral elements detected were sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and potassium (K). All EBNs appeared to be good sources of Ca and Mg according to the adult dietary reference intake (DRI). The farmed EBNs collected from the Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trat provinces in particular contained sulfur essential amino acids which met the requirement of the reference pattern recommended by FAO/WHO/UNU. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.