What went wrong with the Golden September Cake? Will eating it affect my health?

Nowadays, food safety and hygiene in China is very worrying, there's no way around it.

With the trend of the internet community clamoring for the #FiveKernelMooncake to get out of the mooncake world, the Golden Nine five-kernel mooncake has also seen its own accident full of twists and turns - the semi-finished filling has been found to have exceeded the bacterial colony standard. This is undoubtedly like a blow to the people of Golden Nine, who have been insisting on making assuredly delicious mooncakes. In this era of more and more attention to food safety, Jinjiu people also pay extra attention to the consumer's reaction and attention to the problems. In order to unravel this injustice, on September 16, 2013, the Golden Nine invited the media in Guangdong to hold a press conference in Guangzhou for the incident of excessive bacterial colonies in semi-finished fillings.

At the conference, we met the manufacturer of Golden Nine Mooncakes for the first time, and also had the opportunity to interview the simple team that insists on making traditional flavored mooncakes but has little dealings with the media, and because of this short encounter and conversation, we were impressed by the brand and his five-kernel mooncakes.

Failed filling doesn't mean the mooncake is substandard

--JinJiu: We never sell raw filling

At the conference, the media tit-for-tat was still about the problem of excessive bacterial colonization. Most people think that because of the excessive bacterial colony, there must be something wrong with JK's mooncakes. But many people tend to overlook that the object of this discovery of excessive bacterial colonization is a semi-finished filling, and it is raw. And molded moon cakes are still quite a distance away.

Golden Nine used black and white data to prove that the semi-finished raw fillings sent for inspection on Sept. 2 were problematic, and the semi-finished raw fillings sent for inspection on Sept. 5 were qualified. The finished products of the mooncakes of the Golden Nine passed all the tests. The people of Golden Nine repeatedly emphasized that the reason for such a situation was due to the different standards of inspection. Even though the truth has been revealed, many people still wonder why the finished products passed the test but the fillings failed. This goes back to the process of making the Golden September cake.

JinJiu bakery assistant general manager YuJian introduced the filling process, JinJiu five kernel is with fat meat raw marinated + raw ham + nuts filling together baked, so the test filling is not cooked, but raw semi-finished products, relative to the standard is over the limit. It's like the difference between a piece of raw pork and cooked pork. Raw pork contains bacteria and should not be consumed, but cooked pork is safe to eat. But rather than take the risk, Jinjiu people refuse to steam the filling first. That's because steaming it to make mooncakes and then baking it makes the finished product less tasty.

Golden Nine also emphasized that the moon cake semi-finished fillings are raw, suitable for storage between 0 to 6 degrees Celsius temperature, the date of sampling is just the province's weather temperature is higher, from Wuchuan transported to Shunde inspection, who do not know the quality of semi-finished fillings during this period is intact as in the first place. So the results of the filling colony exceeded the standard, they are relatively helpless. However, they still immediately and actively take measures to respond to the semi-finished fillings again sent to the test, with the facts to answer the concerns of consumers and the media. Including the Zhanjiang Wuchuan government also organized relevant personnel to go to Jinjiu Bakery to investigate the cause of the accident immediately when the incident occurred. The final conclusion was that they never sell semi-finished raw fillings to the public. And the mooncakes made by Golden Nine Bakery are qualified and can be consumed with 100% confidence.

How do you control the quality of mooncakes?

-Traditional craftsmanship, modern production equipment

The truth was gradually extracted and restored to its original form by the layers of questions from the media in the conference and the professional answers from the people of Golden Nine. Fillings in the state of raw products containing bacteria, after high-temperature baking, before they can become assured moon cakes. This makes us interested in their production process and quality process control.

Though Jinjiu is a family business and started as a small workshop, it has developed over the years into a 30,000-square-meter plant. Jinjiu doesn't do a variety of things like other food or catering companies. They only focus on one thing, which is making mooncakes. In a long year, only the mooncake season produces mooncakes, and the plant is idle during the rest of the year. Although mooncakes are only produced for a few months of the year, the masters with traditional mooncake making skills are getting older and older, and they keep introducing advanced mooncake production machinery to make mooncakes. The production techniques are traditional, but the production process is modernized. It is reported that they now have a complete automated production system. For example, automatic filling separating machine, automatic molding machine, automatic plate arranging machine, automatic baking tunnel oven, cradle oven, rotary oven, automatic metal monitoring machine, automatic rotary packaging machine, secondary reverse osmosis pure water machine, automatic code spraying machine, high efficiency sterilizer, etc., which forms a modernized production line. The production is automated and there is a sound system for quality control. They have established a food safety quality system, and the company will also require inspection of mooncake products according to the standards of the food safety quality system.

Why are mooncakes with so many fillings only attracted to five-kernel fillings?

-The history of the biscuits, a historical legacy that can't be forgotten

Mr. Yu Jian, the assistant general manager of Jinjiu, talked to us about their boss, saying that he was a simple private entrepreneur who only knew how to make a good product but never knew how to make a good public relations. Mr. Zheng Jinjiu, the founder of Jinjiu, is already more than eighty years old, and the Jinjiu bakery he founded has been passed down to the third generation. But to trace the origin, to be exact, Jinjiu cake originated in the Qing Dynasty, the initiator of the cake family is Zheng Jinjiu's father, at that time, the local is a little famous chef, first sells a few cents a bowl of congee, and then make bean paste cake, five kernel cake, sold to the neighboring people, everyone said that it was delicious. Finally made into a small restaurant scale. When the business was passed on to the second generation, it was Mr. Zheng Jinjiu, who grew up with his father and learned from his father's experience, loved pastry and research, and based on the five-nut cake created by his father, he added Wuchuan's unique ingredients to make the five-nut mooncake. The earliest five-kernel cakes were relatively simple, with fillings such as peanuts and nuts. Mr. Zheng Jinjiu, on the other hand, used more nuts, such as olive kernel, melon seed kernel, walnut kernel, sesame seed kernel, almond and other five kinds of nuts, together with ham meat made from local local pork, and mixed them together to make the current Jinjiu Mooncake.

Though Mr. Zheng Jinjiu is already more than eighty years old, he still maintains his obsession and love for the five-nut mooncake. All his life he has been single-mindedly devoted to making five-kernel mooncakes and making them to the best of his ability. In his opinion, no other mooncake can compare to the authenticity of five-kernel mooncakes. He is very particular about the selection of each kind of kernel for his mooncakes. If the kernels are chosen from the best quality from all over the world. Mr. Zheng has reached a state where he can pick up a handful of nuts and know its quality, how heavy it is, and where it comes from. Inside the filling are extremely elaborate, ham is their own do, choose the pig's hind leg meat, cut into thin slices of sun-dried, and then cut into shredded into the filling. In addition to ham, but also added a little fat pork, when the moon cakes in the baking, fat can enhance the flavor of the filling, penetration of the oil, can fully guarantee the softness of the filling, the texture is not so dry.

And Mr. Zheng has a kind of obsession with making mooncakes, but also invested a huge amount of money to build a mooncake museum, collection of all the information about the mooncake, tools, etc., to show the history and culture of the mooncake Wuchuan. After hearing this, we all felt very admired and wanted to meet this master who had dedicated most of his life to mooncakes. His experience reminds me of the Japanese god of hand-held sushi who is famous all over the world. Concentrating on a small thing and doing it to the extreme is a great realm.

Five-kernel is not good?

--Just you haven't eaten the authentic five kernel moon cake

For the current network hot topic to five kernel moon cake out of the moon cake industry, Mr. Yu Jian, assistant general manager of the Golden Nine Cake Industry, said that five kernel is not good for the children's shoes, just you haven't eaten the authentic five kernel moon cake. Five kernel is one of the most traditional mooncakes, traditional things more and more taste, need our generation to inherit. And not as the internet says.

Yujian said that at first he didn't really like eating five-kernel mooncakes because many of them on the market have a dry, hard texture. But since coming into contact with Golden September Cake, he has completely changed his mind about five-kernel mooncakes. Because in the western part of Guangdong, the flavor of five-kernel mooncake is fluffy and crunchy. And the biggest feature of Golden Nine Mooncake is that it is mixed with ham and five kernels, which means it has the crisp flavor of five kernels and the unique meaty flavor of ham. This combination is ingenious and is completely different from the five-kernel mooncakes you've had before.

Most of the mooncakes in Jinjiu are large mooncakes, one mooncake weighs 2 pounds and 4 pounds, and the largest weighs 8 pounds, so when the whole family cuts a mooncake and eats it together during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the atmosphere of reunion is very strong. Moreover, the mooncakes of Jinjiu have thin skin and fluffy filling, which is the heirloom craftsmanship of Jinjiu's family. It is difficult to make mooncakes on the market at such a level, because it is easy to make mooncakes with large shapes and thin skin, which are easily collapsed if the craftsmanship is not good enough. But Jinjiu's won't. But Mr. Yu is also quite frustrated by the fact that the mooncakes, which are so healthy and delicious and complicated to make, are far less popular and sold at a much lower price than mooncakes with other fillings.

Is there a standard for a good, authentic mooncake?

--North and South are different, and the flavors are different in all parts of Guangdong

The five-kernel mooncake has not been accurately standardized or defined since its birth, and the current situation is that it is very different from North and South, and varies from region to region in Guangdong. For example, the northern five kernel moon cake will add cashew nuts, peanut kernels, etc., the southern side of the main use of olive kernels, melon seeds, etc.. As far as the Guangdong area is concerned, the five-kernel mooncake in Guangzhou is pure five-kernel with some fat pork. In the western part of Guangdong, the main specialty is five kernels plus ham meat. The production process is different and the taste can be very different.

Has the Golden September cake been affected by this incident of excessive colony?

--Traditional delicacies, hot selling everywhere

It has also been some time since the incident of excessive bacterial colony found in the semi-finished fillings of Golden Nine Cakes. During this period of time, the Golden Nine people for this matter to run around, in the products sent to the inspection at the same time also try to go to the investigation of their own shortcomings, and answer consumers and the media's concerns, hoping to do better, to produce more delicious and assured moon cakes.

Because of the rigorous selection of materials, the production process, the finished product is delicious and delicious, the Golden September cake market is also growing, the company receives a lot of orders every year, in addition to Guangdong and other places, but also sold to Shanghai, Beijing and other places. Now some large supermarkets in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, such as PARKnSHOP, Lotus, and CR Vanguard have the shadow of Golden September Cake. Sam's Store in Shenzhen also took the initiative to seek their cooperation, and has been cooperating for three years. It is reported that Sam's Store will send professional organizations to inspect the production base in Wuchuan every year, and the inspections are quite rigorous, so rigorous that workers are not allowed to have buttons on their clothes, because they believe that the buttons will accidentally fall in the moon cakes. The Golden Nine Cake Company, which can be subjected to such rigorous tests, basically has an oversupply of products. But they never lower the quality of their products because of the sales volume. This is probably the most important reason why they have been long popular in the market.