Difficult to control the quality of 'homemade moon cakes'

The counters and booths are deserted.

Before the full moon of July, many businesses have set up kiosks, counters, and stalls to sell moon cakes of major brands at intersections, apartment buildings, and supermarkets in Vinh City. However, the consumption of moon cakes this year is considered “slow and weak”.

“For the past three weeks, customers have occasionally come to ask, look at the cakes and buy them to try. Only a few cakes are sold each day, focusing on the popular cakes. As for the high-end cakes and gift boxes, very few people ask to buy them...', said an employee at a cake stall in Vinh city.

For the district market, as a grocery kiosk owner in Dung town (Thanh Chuong) said: "This year, the store mainly buys cakes from famous confectionery brands in moderate quantities (about a few hundred pieces) and does not dare to stock a lot of goods, nor does it dare to buy goods without labels or unknown origins, even though the price of this type of cake is cheap (about 6,000 VND - 15,000 VND/piece). Because the current consumer mentality is to buy less rather than buy cheap."

The province's interdisciplinary inspection team inspected a cake production facility in Vinh city. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Currently, on the market, the price of moon cakes of various types of soft cakes and baked cakes of famous confectionery brands ranges from 45,000 VND - 80,000 VND/piece (depending on weight and filling); there are high-end types such as: ham with XO sauce chicken thighs; abalone filling, shark fin with bird's nest... contained in wooden boxes, iron boxes with music priced from 500,000 VND to over 4 million VND/box (4 pieces).

In addition, many companies have also launched cakes for dieters such as: sugar-free cakes, green tea cakes, charcoal cakes, vegetable cakes, etc. In particular, this year, self-flowing salted egg cakes advertised as "domestic Chinese goods" but without labels or origin are now being sold quite a lot on the market.

Exciting "homemade" moon cakes

Due to concerns about food hygiene and safety, many people seek to buy homemade mooncakes through friends and relatives. These cakes are made according to the buyer's pre-ordered requirements regarding color, size, weight, filling type and suitable price.

Homemade moon cakes come in many shapes, sizes, flavors...according to consumer demand. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Currently in Vinh city, there are many individuals selling homemade moon cakes online through personal Facebook and Zalo pages. The cake making process is live streamed publicly online; orders and customer feedback are regularly updated to advertise and create trust for consumers.

Ms. Phan Hoang Hai, a consumer, said: “Every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, I often buy cakes as gifts or to celebrate with my children and grandchildren in the family, about 20 pieces. I order homemade cakes to suit the preferences of each person, and I am also more assured about the quality because I do not use preservatives and the ingredients are carefully selected.”

There are homemade mooncake establishments that receive orders of up to thousands of pieces per Mid-Autumn Festival season. Photo: Thanh Phuc

However, that peace of mind is only based on trust when the seller is familiar, on reputation that is "word of mouth" and has no basis... Because the quality of homemade moon cakes depends on the "heart" of the maker when the input materials are not inspected; the cake making process is not controlled and the ingredients of the cake are not announced; the label, label, production date, and expiration date are all "determined" by the maker.

Not to mention, some individuals, for profit, "advertise one thing and sell another", introducing themselves as making their own products but actually buying poor quality products, changing labels and packaging, and selling them to consumers.

Meanwhile, the inspection and control of this type of online business is facing many difficulties. Ms. Lan Anh, an expert from the Vinh City Economic Department, said: Most handmade cakes are small-scale, individual, household, without a business license and mainly sold through social networks, so it is very difficult to inspect and monitor quality.

The city has established inspection teams to monitor food safety during the Mid-Autumn Festival in the area. If any violations are detected, they will be handled according to regulations.

Consumers often buy homemade cakes out of trust and familiarity. Photo: Thanh Phuc

“The Market Management Department assigned teams to inspect the transportation, production, and trading of baking ingredients; and moon cake production facilities. Initially, some ingredients were seized and some candies of unknown origin and origin were destroyed, and some did not meet food safety conditions. Particularly for households that produce homemade moon cakes, selling moon cakes on social networks is quite difficult, because they are small-scale households that do not register their businesses…” - Mr. Nguyen Van Huong - Deputy Director of the Nghe An Market Management Department added.