How To Check A Mooncake Before You Buy It

Mid-Autumn falls on Friday 25 September this year, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. The boxes have been in the shops for weeks. Many of them will be given as gifts, so the cake you buy may be a cake somebody else eats.

Most well known makers follow the rules. But from 23 to 25 September 2025, the economic police checked four bakeries and companies in Da Nang and stopped nearly 10,000 mooncakes. Some sellers could not show where the cakes came from. Some had not registered their cakes as the law asks. One company was also selling more than 6,000 cakes and sweets that were past their date.

This year, on 24 August, the food safety department of the Ministry of Health asked every province and city to do more checks on mooncakes. On 2 September, the Da Nang market control office said it will focus on online sales and on goods with no clear origin during Mid-Autumn. You can do a check of your own. Here is what to look for.

1. Who made it. A proper box shows the name of the company and the address where the cakes were made. No name and no address means nobody can tell you where the cake came from.

2. Two dates. Look for the day it was made and the last day to eat it. Both should be printed and easy to read. Mooncakes often last about three months from the day they are made.

3. A logo printed on the box, not stuck on. Fake boxes often use a sticker logo that looks blurry when you look closely. A real brand prints its logo straight onto the box, and prints the ingredients, the company name and the origin on the bottom.

4. Wrapping with no damage. Each cake should be sealed in its own plastic. If the plastic is torn or no longer tight, air has come in and the cake will not taste as good.

5. For banh deo, the soft white one, press gently. The skin should feel soft, but not sticky and not wet. A thin coat of flour on top is a good sign.

6. Where you buy it and what it costs. The police advice after last year was short. Buy from shops you trust, with clear labels and a clear origin. Never buy cakes that nobody can name a source for, and never buy cakes at a price that is strangely low.

7. After you get home. Keep mooncakes in a dry, cool place out of the sun, and put them in a closed box if they are not sealed. Cakes with a cream filling go in the freezer part of the fridge and should be eaten as soon as the box is opened. Do not freeze a cake again after it has thawed. Never eat a cake that has changed colour or smells wrong.

None of this is hard. Turn the box over before you pay. It takes a few seconds, and the person you give it to will never know you did it.

If you want to know why there are two kinds of cake in most boxes, read our story on banh deo, the mooncake that never goes in an oven.