Photo courtesy of Girl Scouts
You might have heard that there’s a new Girl Scouts cookie. It’s called Exploremores, kind of like smores. It sounds yummy at first glance — marshmallow, almond flavor, crunchy texture.
But there’s always drama somewhere, and here at Broke-Ass Stuart we dig it up and present it to you like a well meaning dog with the dead gerbil your neighbor tried to bury. Sorry, buttercup.
Girl Scouts sell cookies to fund their troops. It teaches the scouts how to be entrepreneurs, and it provides funding for all the other stuff troops do. And the cookies are quite yummy!
There are two factories, and some claim the NorCal one is inferior. Most troops in the Bay Area supply through ABC; some claim LBB cookies taste better. According to the Girl Scouts website, “Each Girl Scout council contracts with one of two licensed bakers, whose recipes and ingredients may differ slightly: ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers. That’s why some of our cookies look the same but have two different names.” Now with the internet people will hunt around for troops who get their cookies supplied from one or the other. Both factories make the new flavor.
You’d think Exploremores might have almonds, which aren’t as common as peanuts when it comes to allergens. You’d be wrong. Exploremores uses peanut flour. Why?
According to marketers, peanut flour can add a rich texture, nutty flavor, protein, and “numerous health benefits.” But it might also have to do with cost.
Every Girl Scout cookie except chocolate chip has a warning that they’re produced in a factory that processes peanuts. That’s because, according to some parents on the Girl Scouts subreddit, both LBB and ABC are too lazy to shut off the machines and do a proper cleaning between runs of different flavors. Before this, only two cookie flavors actually contained peanuts: Tagalongs and Do-si-dos. The rest are just made in a factory alongside peanuts, creating an exposure risk.
If you’re like, “This is not a big deal…” Unfortunately you’re wrong. It’s a big deal to parents and caregivers working with their Girl Scouts to hawk the cookies. And according to parents, the fear of allergens is real because kids have died from this shit.
So do we ban peanuts altogether? Some campuses do, but it doesn’t mean your kid is safe. Someone still might accidentally or unknowingly bring in something that has peanuts, tree nuts, or other allergens. We can’t give legal advice but this is why Epi-Pens exist.
Side note: Did you know Epi-Pen is a brand with a monopoly on the epinephrine injection medication that saves lives? And that it costs like, $50 bucks to get one and you need a prescription? Yikes! Healthcare in America is a joke.
At the end of the day, people are frustrated with the new cookie because it’s not listening to consumer demand for allergen-sensitive products. According to one commenter, “I feel like whoever is making decisions at GSUSA is just so out of touch.”
