Herbal moon cake put on Shenyang supermarket shelf expert: moon cake is ordinary food can not add drugs

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the moon cakes on sale will not only have a large number of brands but also have a variety of varieties. On the shelf, the reporter discovered Chinese herbal moon cakes such as American ginseng moon cakes, Dendrobium candidum moon cakes, ginseng moon cakes, and Cordyceps moon cakes. Prices ranged from 15 yuan to 24 yuan each. The reporter picked up a piece of Dendrobium officinalis moon cake. The salesperson said: “Dendrobium candidum is ranked first among the nine major Chinese grasses, which is even more precious than Xuelin and Ganoderma lucidum. It has the effect of Shengjin Yangwei, and lungs and kidneys,” she said. These herbal moon cakes have health-care effects and can help weight loss, hypoglycemic, detoxification, beauty, and enhance human immunity. They are suitable for people with obesity, high blood sugar, and high blood lipids.

So, these Chinese herbal moon cakes with many functions are food or medicine? According to the “Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China”, according to the “List of articles that are both food and drugs” and the “list of articles that can be used for health food”, only licorice, lily, scorpion, and chrysanthemum are used as medicinal herbs. Can be added as food. Cordyceps, ginseng, Ishigaki, American ginseng and other Chinese herbal medicines are only items that can be used for health foods.

Experts said that moon cakes are not health products as ordinary foods, and they cannot add any pharmaceutical ingredients. At the same time, the sale of Chinese herbal medicines must obtain a Chinese herbal medicine business license.

However, the reporter visited a number of stalls selling herbal moon cakes, and sales staff all said that they did not have any licenses for Chinese herbal medicines. Sales staff said: "Manufacturers sell moon cakes, not Chinese herbal medicines, but add Chinese herbal medicines with health care functions, increase selling points, and increase the variety of moon cakes, and do not require a permit."

It is understood that the amount of Chinese medicine has strict regulations. The reporter found on the ingredient list of Dendrobium candidum and moon cake packaging that the specific content of fillings was not indicated. The sales staff said that Dendrobium candidum was extracted and added to moon cakes by means of high-tech crush extraction. As for the content, the scientific basis for the content ratio, whether it is suitable for consumption, there are no side effects, the sales staff also said it is not clear.

Zhang Xiang, head of a food manufacturer in Shenyang, said that mooncake manufacturers are food production units and may not know how to add pharmaceutical ingredients. Chinese herbal medicine manufacturers also lack the experience of adding Chinese herbal medicines to food, and there is no authoritative statement on how to match them. Some businesses wiped the ball, called the name of “health care,” and added Chinese herbal medicines to moon cakes. The propaganda was like a panacea and the efficacy could not be judged. He advises consumers to buy carefully.