Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 30th, title: Are the hot-selling "handmade" and "private house" mooncakes on the Internet reliable?
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Song Jia, Hu Linguo, Zhang Xuan, Wang Aona
The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and mooncakes have reached a peak in sales.
"Xinhua Viewpoint" reporter investigation found that some mooncakes under the banners of "handmade", "homemade" and "private house" are popular in Moments, and some are promoted through popular short video platforms.
Are these mooncakes, which are generally inexpensive and known as "real materials without additives", reliable?
Homemade moon cakes are selling hot, with obvious price advantage
"Handmade fillings", "custom moon cakes", "traditional old tastes"... Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and some advertisements for "handmade", "home-made" and "private" moon cakes can be seen everywhere on the Internet.
Compared with branded moon cakes on the market, "Private" moon cakes are generally not expensive.
For example, a box of 6 270 grams of Liuxin Custard Mooncakes from a well-known brand sells for nearly 300 yuan; and similar gift boxes sold by many "private house" mooncake sellers, 6 packs cost just over 100 yuan.
Xiao Yang from Beijing was recently "planted" with a crab-shaped mooncake with low-sugar egg yolk and white lotus seed paste.
In the video, the seller first introduced the production materials and processes, and then released the finished product drawings.
Xiao Yang told reporters that the mooncakes looked exquisite and lovely, so he contacted the seller to place an order for two boxes.
"It is purely handmade without additives, and the shape and taste can be customized, and you can also engrave on the crust."
The reporter noticed that mooncake advertisements used to appear on various social platforms; as some short video platforms became popular, more and more sellers used short videos and live broadcasts to promote them.
On some short video platforms, reporters saw that some broadcasters did not directly put mooncake products on the shelves, but used mooncake-related videos to advertise and attract traffic.
Some broadcasters focus on "teaching" sharing, first teach everyone how to make various moon cakes, and finally bring out their own products; some show the production process, showing rows of finished moon cakes with different tastes and a set of exquisite moon cakes Gift boxes, and add the contact number and other information in the form of subtitles; some are incarnations of gourmets, and they bring their goods through the test and evaluation of their own moon cakes, and mark the contact information in the comment area or personal homepage.
Some buyers said that, compared with the "simple and rude" propaganda in Moments, the advertisements on the short video platform are more creative, more substituting, and more exciting.
The reporter found that the vast majority of transactions are ultimately carried out by adding WeChat or telephone contact.
Some sellers admitted that the short video platform did attract many customers.
"Every day, people who watched the video added WeChat to buy, some of them were eaten by themselves, some were ordered by enterprises, and the most orders were sent nearly 100 boxes." A seller said.
Known as "Conscientious Selection", there are many hidden dangers
Many sellers declared: "All handmade, choose the materials conscientiously, and eat with confidence." However, the reporter's investigation found that there are safety hazards in multiple links such as material selection, production, packaging, and sales.
Guo Yaping, deputy general manager of Beijing Daoxiang Village, told reporters that the production of moon cakes must go through multiple processes from the selection of raw and auxiliary materials, inspection and acceptance into the factory, production and processing, and release of the product from the factory. Each process must meet strict standards and specifications.
The quality of raw materials, baking time and temperature, environmental sanitation during cooling, and tightness of packaging will affect the quality and safety of moon cakes.
The reporter's investigation found that some sellers of homemade mooncakes were produced in their own homes.
In some videos, the production conditions of the mooncake makers are worrying. Many people do not wear masks during the production process and throw away hand towels everywhere.
One person puts the mooncakes to be baked and made in the iron pan on the ground, and there are other debris piled around.
Many moon cake packaging bags are self-sealing strip seals.
According to industry insiders, it is difficult to achieve a sealing effect in this way, and it is easy to cause the mooncakes to become damp and moldy during storage and transportation.
Guo Yaping said that if the moon cake packaging leaks, with the prolonged storage time, the quality of the moon cake will easily deteriorate, which will cause harm to the health of consumers.
"The bulk mooncakes we sell are all individually sealed and packaged, except for the "Tai Lai Hong" that is used as a daily snack."
Internet-made mooncakes still have hidden concerns about the health of the producers.
According to the regulations, food production and business personnel engaged in the work of contacting directly imported food shall undergo an annual health check and obtain a health certificate before they can start work.
Among the sellers contacted by the reporter, some have health certificates, but they have been valid for one year; some have been in business for two years and have not been processed.
In addition, in accordance with the requirements of the moon cake national standard GB/T19855-2015 and the general food safety standard pre-packaged food label GB7718-2011, the moon cake packaging label includes the name of the food, the list of ingredients, the net content and specifications, the producer and (or) the distributor The name, address and contact information, production date and shelf life, storage conditions, food production license number, product standard code and other content that needs to be marked.
The several moon cakes randomly purchased by the reporter, although beautifully packaged, lack important identification information.
Some sellers said that the packaging that meets the requirements needs to be specially made and the cost is too high. Now they are buying bags and boxes on some e-commerce platforms.
If there is a problem with eating such mooncakes, it is also difficult to defend rights.
The reporter asked multiple sellers if they found that the ingredients were not fresh or other quality problems could be returned after the purchase, most of the responses were not.
Some buyers complained about it. After buying it, they felt that the taste was not right. After fighting for reasons, they were blacked out by the seller.
Need to strengthen supervision of online sales of "three no products"
Many people in the industry said that some so-called "manual" and "private" moon cakes are actually "three no products."
According to the Food Safety Law, to engage in food production, food sales, and catering services, a license should be obtained according to law.
However, many sellers contacted by the reporter made it clear that they were doing their own sales and did not apply for relevant production and operation permits, nor did they have sanitation permits.
Some sellers said that they have a business license, but they shirk in every possible way when they ask for it.
Others said that they have qualifications, but it is the distribution qualification certificate of a trading company's underwear brand that has been publicized in the circle of friends, and the authorization period has expired.
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Protection Law Research Association of the Chinese Law Society, said that whether online or offline, as long as the purpose is transaction and profit, and mass sales are carried out, it is a business behavior.
Food emphasizes quality and safety, so businesses must have business licenses and food circulation permit qualifications, otherwise they are suspected of breaking the law.
Meng Bo, a lawyer from Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, said that in accordance with laws and regulations such as the E-Commerce Law, the platform should register the real-name food operators of the network to clarify their food safety management responsibilities.
Where an e-commerce operator should obtain a license in accordance with the law, the platform shall also review it.
However, on some short video platforms, sellers did not put their products on the merchandise window, but only used the platform to attract traffic.
Ouyang Chaohua, a second-level researcher of the Network Transaction Supervision and Management Office of the Anhui Provincial Market Supervision Administration, told reporters that this behavior is the seller’s promotion on the platform, rather than direct sales and transactions through the platform.
Without products on the shelves, it is difficult for the platform itself to conduct qualification audits of these sellers.
Moreover, it is difficult for regulatory authorities to cover similar situations where there are no physical production and sales sites or hidden production sites.
Insiders reminded that when buying food, you must choose products from regular manufacturers.
The reporter's investigation found that many people think that factory products have too many additives, so they choose "private house" products that are called "pure natural" and "no additives".
Chen Junshi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a researcher of the National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, reminds consumers not to blindly believe in "pure natural" and "no additives". It is safe to use within the prescribed dose range, and the public need not talk about its discoloration.