(Bloomberg Law) — Thirteen types of Girl Scout cookies contain excessive levels of heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, and lead, a proposed consumer class action alleged.
Lab testing showed all of the samples contain glyphosate, and most of the samples tested positive for lead and other toxic metals, according to the complaint filed Monday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. These chemicals are linked to health problems including cancer and neurological disorders, the complaint said.
The Girl Scouts of the United States of America; Ferrero USA Inc.; and Interbake Foods LLC, which does business as ABC Bakers, were named as defendants.
“The Girl Scouts’ Girl Scouts Cookie sales program has not only made the individual troops millions of dollars but has put hundreds of millions of dollars into the pockets of the commercial bakers—like Ferrero and ABC Bakers—in the process,” the complaint said. The companies have the ability to create safe products, the suit alleged.
The complaint compared the cookies’ manufacturing process to the meatpacking process exposed in Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle.
“Today the goal of food producers who make ultra-processed food is not necessarily to make a healthy product—but to pump out as much addictive food as possible in order to enhance their bottom line,” the complaint said.
Named plaintiff Amy Mayo seeks to represent a nationwide consumer class as well as a state sub-class. She brings claims for consumer protection claims under New York law and a claim for unjust enrichment. She is asking for damages and an injunction requiring accurate labels.
The defendants didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mayo is represented by Leeds Brown Law PC.
The case is Mayo v. Girl Scouts of the U.S. of Am., E.D.N.Y., No. 1:25-cv-01367, complaint filed 3/10/25.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shweta Watwe in Washington at swatwe@bloombergindustry.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brian Flood at bflood@bloombergindustry.com
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