Story by Nanfang Reporter Ellen Wang

China is the wonderful home to the world’s great fake products, but when forgery moves into the food arena, one should be very concerned. With Mid-Autumn festival right around the corner, people have taken to faking the ubiquitous mooncake to make a quick buck. This story is translated from the Southern Metropolis Daily.

Eight thousand boxes of fake mooncakes tracked down in Guangzhou

As Mid-autumn Festival, one of China’s most favored traditional feasts, is on its way, mooncakes are taking up more of people’s attention and appetites. It’s also a time when lawbreakers have the strongest incentive to step in and make some dirty money.

In the morning of September 3, a batch of fake mooncakes branded with the name “Guangzhou Restaurant,” a famous local food chain, was hunted down by the local police and commerce bureau in Guangzhou’s Liwan District.

The police arrested every suspect involved in this case.

This batch of fake mooncakes, involving over 8,000 boxes with a total value of about RMB1 million, is the biggest case of fake mooncakes related to Guangzhou Restaurant ever discovered.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the packaging of the counterfeits was very close to the genuine ones, complete with the redeem vouchers stuck to the outside. But one can not track down any production or distribution information through the bar code on them.

So, a friendly reminder from Guangzhou Restaurant: for the sake of your health, purchase only from merchants with a good credit.