Quality watchdog to keep closer eye on moon cake makers

The Shanghai quality watchdog said Tuesday that it will undertake more serious inspections of moon cake makers whose owners missed a meeting it held on the importance of following food safety guidelines.

"We will pay extra attention to companies whose owners did not show up to a meeting that aimed to ensure that companies meet their responsibilities (to make safe products)," an official surnamed Li from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision told the Global Times Tuesday.

The agency specifically asked the owners of the city's 206 moon cake manufacturers to attend the meeting Monday, but 76 of the companies sent managers instead.

"It shows that those companies are not taking food safety seriously enough," Chao Qiangguo, vice director of the agency's food department said at the meeting.

Chao said that the agency asked the owners to the meeting to inform them that their food production licenses would be revoked if they were found using recycled moon cakes to make new ones.

Last week, the Fengxian District Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau revoked the license of Shanghai Panpan, a moon cake maker based in the town of Situan, for recycling moon cakes that had been expired for two years.

The agency also ordered luxury hotels to label the packaging of moon cakes they sell with the name of the actual manufacturer. Some luxury hotels sell moon cakes branded under their own names even though they are produced elsewhere.

"It is an important measure to ensure that consumers do not pay high prices for moon cakes that were made in unlicensed factories," said Song Ruifang, secretary-general of Shanghai Confectionery Industry Association.