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As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, many people are making preparations for sending mooncakes to relatives and friends overseas. So, where do you start when you want to send moon cakes overseas? What to pay attention to? Air freight or sea freight? Will they reach the addressee before the Festival? “Tongzhi International” responds to these questions.
When considering international logistics, mooncakes fall into the classification of food; hence they are very sensitive commodities. For that reason, personal shipping can be difficult, and for some reason, official sources are normally reluctant to entertain such shipments. Although some countries and regions may have a ban on the use of sensitive goods channels by freight forwarding companies for shipping, others may not be restrictive.
At present, there are a lot of kinds of moon cakes existing in the market ranging from egg yolk, ham, five nuts, red bean paste, fruit, and the meat ones. Not all these kinds of mooncakes can be exported. Foods such as mooncakes with meat, dairy, or egg ingredients are some that would have much scrutiny and end up being confiscated and destroyed. Hence it is better to operate away from do-it-yourselfies with moon cakes with these ingredients to make. Instead, interchange them with moon cakes having fillings of five nuts, red bean paste, lotus seed paste, or even chocolate.
On a lighter note, can mooncakes reach the recipient before the Mid-Autumn Festival? As the saying goes, critics disagree. If you read the information provided by Tongzhi International air freight usually takes 5-7 business days, then shipments should be planned accordingly. Since moon cakes are time-shelf products, transportation by sea is not advisable.
However, when it comes to mooncake delivery there are some pointers that should be noted:
Breakage: Moon cakes are brittle and in the long-distance and intercontinental journeys, might be squashed and battered in some parts of the voyages. Therefore, alternatives to packs should be taken and more cushioning added to the package.
No Vacuum Flavor Preservation: Mooncakes usually have an unpleasant smell during delivery hence milk stacks upon delivery and therefore they should be made so as to preserve it.
Expiry Date: Ensure you verify the shelf life that is remaining before shipping. In doing this select moon cakes that have more shelf life so that when the cake is received it will still be fresh.
