Health ministry orders crackdown on mouldy mooncakes
( 2001-09-05 14:59 ) (7 )

China's health ministry has ordered a nationwide inspection of "mooncakes" -- small cakes eaten during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival -- after local media reported companies were recycling old fillings from last year to put into this year's cakes.

A mooncake maker, Nanjing Guanshengyuan, in the eastern city of Nanjing, froze leftover mooncakes from last year worth several million yuan (several hundred thousand dollars) and reused the fillings, after scraping off the mould from the rotten ones, local media said.

The scandal was uncovered by reporters from the Nanjing television station who have spent the past year monitoring the cake shop.

It secretly filmed the manufacturer allegedly rewrapping year-old fillings in new crusts and broadcast its findings.

Mooncakes are considered a delicacy and are eaten each year during the festival, which normally falls in September in the Western calendar.

The fillings are made of red bean paste, lotus seed paste, or nuts and each cake normally contains at least one egg yolk.

Several Chinese papers as well as the Central Chinese Television Station (CCTV) picked up the mooncake scam, and reports said it was not the only manufacturer which has taken shortcuts.

The owner of the store had allegedly been reusing old fillings to increase profit margins since 1993 meaning some of the fillings could have been several years old, the Beijing Evening News quoted sources saying.

It was unclear whether he would be prosecuted, the paper said.

The Nanjing cake company Tuesday hurriedly cleared suspect goods off its premises and Nanjing supermarkets were emptying shelves of its goods, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

But a company spokesman was quoted in the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post as saying a Nanjing television reporter put out an "unfair and unethical" report after failing to extort money from the company.

The Nanjing TV station denied the allegations.