I told you I was back to the blogging on a more regular basis and I wasn't kidding...I am sure that most of you are familiar with the delicious chocolately-mint, vanilla & chocolate cookies sold every year by Girl Guides Canada. What you may not have known is the story behind these cookies, and how they've changed for the better recently...
I came across a CBC news article that was published in 2007, criticizing the Girl Guides for selling cookies that contained trans-fats, at a time where most cookie manufacturers were doing everything in their power to get rid of trans-fats in their products. The story caught my attention, because of my involvement in a healthy eating nutrition class taught to patients at St Michael's hospital. At the time we were using the Nutrition Facts panel from Girl Guide cookies, as an example for the patients of what to look out for when making purchases because there not only was trans-fats in the cookies...but there was a large amount! Anyway, the criticism from the CBC news article was that Girl Guides, an organization teaching young girls to be 'responsible citizens and leaders of tomorrow, shouldn't be sending these girls mixed messages by encouraging the sales of cookies loaded with artery-clogging trans fats.
The Girl Guides have had their cookies made by contract with Dare Foods since 2002. In 2003, Dare earned points for becoming one of the first major North American food companies to produce peanut-free products. Dare then focused on reducing & eliminating trans-fats from its products...but the Girl Guide Cookies were not a top priority. And Girl Guides Canada didn't appear to be too concerned by this releasing a statement that read:
"Girl Guide cookies are the major fundraiser for Girl Guides of Canada, and reformulating Girl Guide cookies is a lengthy, expensive and complicated process that will divert valuable time and resources from the girl members who benefit from our not-for-profit organization."
Two words jumped out at me from that statement: major + fundraiser The people at Girl Guides Canada were obviously more concerned with selling the trans-fatty cookies than they were with matching the values of the Girl Guides with their actions.
Then in November 2008, I find another CBC news article about the cookie saga. It appeared to me that the previous article sparked an interest in some, and following cries & pressure from the public, the Girl Guides deemed a cookie reformulation worthwhile and announced that the original vanilla & chocolate cookies sold every spring will contain 90% less trans fat than those before, and still has the familiar cookie taste! Not the complete elimination of trans-fats I was hoping for (that the American Girl Scouts managed to accomplish 2 years ago) but a big improvement! Although you can't forget that the new cookies still contain 70 calories & 3 grams of fat each...and who's going to stop at 1?
Alas, earlier this week, I caught a clip on CP24 news that announcing that the Girl Guides of Canada will be selling a newly-formulated chocolately mint cookie starting this fall that will also contain 90% less trans fat. So, today I applaud Girl Guides of Canada for finally taking action, albeit it did take awhile! And so, I decided to post this story as an example of the power of the public...it was only 2 years ago that statement was released by Girl Guides Canada and it appeared at that time that they had no interest in making a change. The voice & interest of the public made a difference...and/or maybe someone working for Girl Guides of Canada realized that the bad press might negatively effect the cookie sales down the road. Either way, progress was made and the Girl Guides of Canada can now use their cookie slogan 'A great recipe for growing girls' in a more accurate light!
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