I was never a Girl Scout [1], but the organization always seemed to encourage health and wellness among its young members and their families. The girls were always marching off in their skirts and badges to collect leaves in the forest or something like that — always the picture of health and vitality. So why are their trademark cookies receiving the unwanted attention of nutritionists?

You would think that a group that is famous for their baked goods would make more of an effort to ensure the general goodness of their products. Not so. In the middle of the trans-fat hype [2] no product is safe and Girl Scout cookies are currently under scrutiny for their inclusion of the dreaded fats.

Not all Scout cookies are bad. The cookies are produced at manufacturers around the country and each division of the organization chooses the manufacturer for their cookies. One Texas affiliate of the Girl Scouts was recently questioned for choosing to order Thin Mints with trans-fats because they were cheaper. Jackie Bjorum, the affiliate’s Council Director of Communications, defended the decision by explaining that the cookies are meant to be eaten at a healthy pace. “[The Girl Scouts encourage] good nutrition and physical activity,” she told Baking Business [3]. “We have a total approach to well-being.”

It’s not a Texas thing. The box of Thin Mints I bought from my niece who lives in Connecticut are no better with four grams of saturated fat per serving (four cookies). Does four cookies per hour count as a healthy pace?

[via Mercola [4]]

Image: littlebrowniebakers.com