Unsafe cake: A sample of this ice-cream mooncake has been found to exceed bacterial limits.

Centre for Food Safety checks on mooncakes have found only one sample exceeding the bacterial limit.

The ice-cream mooncake was taken from an ice-cream retail outlet. Microbiological tests on five other samples of the same brand from other outlets have wielded satisfactory results.

The centre has issued a warning letter to the outlet, asking it to stop selling the product, and will consider prosecution.

The centre collected 131 mooncake samples, including traditional, snowy and ice-cream types from retail outlets and food factories for chemical and microbiological tests. All chemical test results are satisfactory, and no samples contained pathogens.

The sample in question was found to have a total bacterial count of 120,000 per gram, exceeding the legal limit. Frozen confections should not contain more than 50,000 bacteria per gram. The maximum penalty for offenders is a $10,000 fine and three months' jail.

People should only buy mooncakes from reliable retail outlets and store ice-cream mooncakes at -18 degrees Celsius or below.