To ensure the safety of consumers, prolong the shelf life of moon cake and reduce the cost of manufacturing and marketing enterprises, the optimization of preservative formula and the shelf life of cantonese style moon cake were studied. Through single and compound formula preservative test, the results showed that potassium sorbate and sodium dehydroacetate could inhibit the microorganisms in the moon cake, but the inhibitory effect of sodium dehydroacetate was stronger than that of potassium sorbate; and the combination of potassium sorbate and sodium dehydroacetate had a synergistic effect, and the best formula is ＇potassium sorbate 0.44 g/kg mixed with sodium dehydroacetate 0.38 g/kg. A batch of moon cake was prepared with the best preservative formula, then the total number of colonies, molds and coliform group in the samples were detected by random sampling at irregular intervals. The total number of molds exceeded the limit on the 187^th d, and it indicated that the shelf life of the product was 187 d. Compared with the conventional 15-day shelf life, this research greatly prolongs the sheff life of cantonese style moon cake, and cut down the cost of moon cake enterprises. It is worthy of popularization and application.
