(ECNS) -- As the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, 34 countries and regions have imposed a ban on mooncakes from China, while many others forbid mooncakes containing banned ingredients, such as meat and egg yolk.
Those having put a ban on mooncake imports include Asian countries such as South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, as well as European countries like Germany, France and Switzerland.
Among those allowing shipment of mooncakes with restrictions, New Zealand bans yolk and honey ingredients, while Australia stipulates that only mooncakes delivered to a private address as festival gifts and containing no yolk are allowed.
The U.S. requires that the recipient applies for approval from Food and Drug Administration beforehand and that the stuffing contain no meat or yolk.
Malaysia, Canada and Britain also require the stuffing of mooncakes to contain no meat or yolk. While Canada only allows mooncakes exchanged as personal gifts, Britain also requires the shelf life of mooncakes to not exceed one month.
Guangdong, a traditional export powerhouse, has 45 companies that sell mooncakes overseas, 34 of which saw their total annual exports account for 95 percent of China's total mooncake exports in the past couple of years.
