COMMENTARY: Sandwiched among all the other special observances and holidays during the first two weeks or so of this busy, shorter-than-usual month, National Girl Scout Cookie Day on Feb. 8 could have been forgotten, were it not for a chance alert addressed to this writer from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Today’s news release from CSPI states, in part: “It’s bad enough that the Girl Scouts of the USA sells cookies to raise money, but it shouldn’t pretend that its new {cookies} are nutritionally equivalent to fruit.”
The cookies in question are “Mango Cremes with NutriFusion,” supplied by ABC Bakers, and “marketing copy on the manufacturer’s website claims that its filling has ‘all the nutrient benefits of eating cranberries, pomegranates, oranges, grapes, and strawberries’!”, according to CSPI.
The website, however, in addition to the serving size, calorie count, the percentage of RDA of various vitamins and minerals supplied, and other nutritional information, lists the following:
• 15% RDI (reference daily intake) of Vitamin B1 per serving
• 5% RDI of Vitamins A, C, D, E, and B6 per serving
• Zero grams trans fats per serving
• No hydrogenated oils
• No preservatives
In a letter to CEO Anna Maria Chavez of the Girl Scouts of the USA, two officials of CSPI state that the scouting organization “is misleading its members and supporters and undermining their health.”
The letter goes on to state, “With over 2.3 million participating girls and a goal of encouraging its members to ‘adopt healthy fitness and eating habits early in life,’ the Girl Scouts should support healthy eating through all of its educational activities, including fundraising. Sweet baked goods, including cookies, are a leading source of calories, sugars, and fats in Americans’ diets. Fortifying cookies with vitamins does not make them much healthier. Instead, it is misleading and sends the wrong message to Girl Scouts and its customers.”
CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson, and Margo G. Wootan, the organization’s director of nutrition policy, object to the cookie baker’s claim of having all the “nutrient benefits” of eating fruit, and cite the other ingredients and calories contained in the cookies.
“If there were a badge for misleading marketing I’m afraid the Girl Scouts of the USA just earned it,” Wootan said.
CSPI, at least in this news release, however, does not object to the other cookies offered by the Scouts, although they state that the Mango Cremes are as "junky" as the others.
ABC Bakers, one of two licensed bakers of Girl Scout Cookies, has been supplying cookies to the Scouts for 75 years, and is a division of Interbake Foods. Interestingly, these particular cookies are not being sold in Dallas, which belongs to the Northeast Texas Council of Girl Scouts, because their cookies are supplied by the “other bakery,” according to a local spokesperson.
However, in the Fort Worth area, which is included in the Girls Scouts of Texas, Oklahoma and the Plains, the Mango Cremes are available. That office could not be reached for comment this afternoon.
Perhaps ABC Bakers erred by claiming that the fruit-flavored crème in their cookies is as good as eating the fruit itself. Maybe they should have just called them tasty cookies for a good after-school treat.
Perhaps, though, we have lost all sense of balance in the way we deal with serious issues. I could suggest that the leaders of CSPI indulge in a “cookie break.”
As a writer on healthy food topics, with a “healthy” concern for the goodness, the purity, and the health benefits of the food supply, I am well-aware of the job that CSPI does in pointing out disturbing trends and dangerous practices in food production and supply, and the benefits of proper nutrition. Those topics deserve mention, and the group performs a valuable service by acting as watchdog on issues that are of vital concern to this nation’s population. Overweight, obesity, diabetes, preventable nutrition-related disease, progressive diseases that might be prevented through better dietary habits and lifestyle change. Yes – cite the studies and unleash the attacks.
But – Girl Scout Cookies? Really?
As any Girl Scout will attest, it’s not the cookies themselves that are the point of the exercise: It’s the marketing, the selling, the good practices that are learned about business, self-reliance, earning money and contributing one’s energy and efforts to a cause with huge and measureable benefits. It’s also about participating in something that moms and grandmothers and aunts and sisters and teachers and friends have taken part in, served as leaders of, and supported for an awfully long time.
And, yes, it’s because the cookies taste good that people choose to buy them. Not that they’re healthy, necessarily. But, somehow, I cannot be convinced that eating a few Girl Scout cookies each year is going to really hurt anyone.
For what it’s worth, I was told this afternoon that if no Girl Scout has yet visited your home to take your order – those booths and tables should start appearing in front of markets and discount stores within a couple of weeks.
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