The Mid-Autumn Festival is fraught with fire and financial hazards this year, with Choice magazine warning consumers to be wary of dangerous lanterns, and mooncakes selling for nearly double their original price. The Customs and Excise Department also revealed it received two complaints about lanterns last year, carried out 112 spot checks, issued 11 warnings to toy suppliers and charged one business with supplying dangerous products. The department has already investigated one complaint this year and uncovered up to 20 toy lanterns and light sticks that fail to meet safety standards. These include containing small parts that could be fatal if swallowed by children and not carrying warnings about correct battery use or identifying the maker and supplier. Consumer Council spokesman Matthew Ng said burns and fires from lanterns that did not meet safety standards were reported every year. Of the 33 lanterns tested by the council, the most dangerous were those that used candles but did not have wide enough holes at the top. This caused temperatures to soar past 200 degrees Celsius, potentially causing fires. Parents have been warned to buy closed lanterns only if they use battery-powered globes. 'The devil is in the design of these lanterns, not the particular brand or model,' Dr Ng said. 'It's always the case that over the period of this festival, we get reports of many major and minor injuries and we often see these people in the casualty units of the hospitals.' Many parts of the lanterns were small and sharp and dangerous to small children, he said. Meanwhile, the Consumer Council said mooncake companies were guilty of price gouging as the Mid-Autumn Festival approached, with cakes jumping in price by up to 45 per cent in two months. Dr Ng said the best way to combat profiteering was to subscribe to the philosophy that the 'early bird catches the worm' and buy early to avoid the rapid price rises. While there had been a noticeable improvement in the excess-packaging problem of popular mooncakes, Dr Ng said 20 brands still had far too much packaging and plastic cutlery. Friends of the Earth named Hong Heung and Super Star Mooncakes as being the most overpackaged and wasteful. Hang Heung has 33 separate items of packaging for only eight mooncakes, while Super Star has 31 types of packaging using 16 separate materials, including plastic knives and forks.