According to local watchdog Green Power, a million of the traditional pastries were wasted last year, which equates to an average of 0.42 mooncakes per family. And this mooncake mountain was the smallest it has been for 12 years.
When visiting Hong Kong or Macau during the popular Mid-Autumn festival, watch your intake and gifting of the seasonal delicacy, mooncakes.
According to local watchdog Green Power, a million of the traditional pastries were wasted last year, which equates to an average of 0.42 mooncakes per family. And this mooncake mountain was the smallest it has been for 12 years.
The company’s survey reported that 60% of Hongkongers didn’t want to receive the traditional gift at all, 37% expect to receive more than they need and yet families are planning to buy 2.9 boxes each (up from 2.5 last year).
And that’s not all. The Centre for Food Safety has taken the step to warn Hongkongers not to eat the treats, as they are full of sugar, fat and sodium. The ice-skin or snowy mooncakes contain the highest sugar levels; one sampled registered half an adult’s daily sugar recommendations.
The combination of pastry, red bean or lotus paste and one or two salted egg yolks to represent the full moon, are given between family members and friends with an imprint of the Chinese characters for ‘longevity’, ‘harmony’ or other auspicious messages.
Mooncake fans are encouraged to use up mooncake calories through exercise, but one custard mooncake would allegedly take 50 minutes of swimming or 40 minutes of cycling to burn off, according to medical office Dr Samuel Yeung Tze-kiu at the Centre.
Better to look for the low sugar, fat and sodium mooncakes.