méi

没

mài wán

卖完

de

的

yuè bǐng

月饼

qù

去

nǎ ér

哪儿

le

了

 

？

Once the Mid-Autumn Festival is over, mooncakes quickly disappear from supermarket shelves.

Many people wonder: where do all those unsold mooncakes end up?

In fact, to avoid waste, many supermarkets start offering discounts a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, for example, with “buy one, get one free” promotions.

Food factories have also become more careful. They arrange production in advance according to market demand, so there are far fewer mooncakes left after the festival than in the past.

If there are still unsold mooncakes after the festival, manufacturers usually give them to employees as holiday benefits or donate them to charitable organizations.

Some mooncakes that are still within their shelf life are sold at low prices to stores specializing in near-expiry food, where they continue to be sold at discounted prices.

So, how are mooncakes that have truly expired handled?

To ensure food safety, government inspections are very strict, and expired mooncakes are absolutely not allowed to return to the market.

These expired mooncakes mainly have two destinations: they are either destroyed in a centralized way or processed into animal feed.

Some feed factories collect expired mooncakes that have not spoiled, crush and dry them, and turn them into feed for pigs or chickens.

Interestingly, because they contain many nuts such as peanuts and melon seeds, five-nut mooncakes, which many people do not usually like to eat, are actually the most valuable and popular at feed factories.

From planning production in advance to turning them into animal feed, the process of handling mooncakes is becoming more standardized.

This not only ensures food safety, but also allows resources to be used reasonably.