Lawsuit Claims Heavy Metals and Pesticides are Tagalongs in Girl Scout Cookies
They arrive in distinctive, brightly colored boxes with instantly recognizable names — Thin Mints, Adventurefuls, and Savannah Smiles, to name a few. Amid the anticipation and excitement for the annual Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA) cookie season, this year also brings concerns about ingredients beyond the usual chocolate, caramel, and peanut butter.
A lawsuit filed on March 10, 2025, in the Eastern District Court of New York alleges that testing showed Girl Scout cookies to contain glyphosate (a pesticide) and dangerous heavy metals. The proposed class action suit claims fraud and seeks $5 million in relief from the GSUSA and the companies responsible for producing the cookies.
Do Caramel deLights/Samoas really have arsenic in them? Will fans be deterred from enjoying their yearly cookie binge? The court may have to decide whether the Girl Scout First Aid Badge will be needed.
The Biggest Bake Sale Ever
GSUSA has been selling cookies to raise money since 1917. To say that it's become a successful fundraiser is an extreme understatement. Over 200 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies are sold between January and April each year, to the tune of about $800 million in generated revenue. Around 75% of the profits go to the local GSUSA council, with most of the rest going to the troop that sold the cookies.
While dozens of bakeries once handled the production of the cookies, GSUSA consolidated production over the years to ensure continuity. Since the 1990s, all GSUSA cookie output has been handled by just two operations: ABC Bakers in North Dakota and Little Brownie Bakers in Kentucky. Both are named in the lawsuit.
There are differences between the cookie output of each factory, as evidenced by names, appearance, and ingredient lists. Ferrero USA owns Little Brownie Bakers.
That's Not Supposed To Be in There
Amy Mayo filed the lawsuit after she saw the test report published by GMOScience in December of 2024. GMOScience subjected 25 cookies taken from three states (California, Louisiana, and Iowa) to testing for toxic metals and glyphosate/AMPA, a pesticide/drying agent.
The results of the limited study showed that all of the tested Girl Scout cookies contained glyphosate. Thin Mints had the highest amounts at 33.43 parts per billion (ppb), which is several hundred times higher than recommended for human consumption.
All of the cookies tested also proved positive for at least four out of five heavy and toxic metals: mercury, lead, aluminum, cadmium, and arsenic. Twenty-two of the 25 samples had traces of all five heavy metals. Peanut Butter Patties were the most contaminated, including lead at 42.5 ppb. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are no safe levels of lead for ingestion.
That's How the Cookie Crumbles
Before Mayo's lawsuit was filed, GSUSA responded to the GMOScience report. In a blog post, GSUSA assured cookie lovers that their products meet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and EPA requirements and are safe to eat. GSUSA didn't dispute that glyphosate and heavy metals were present but insisted that trace amounts turn up in many foods, including fruits and vegetables.
In the lawsuit, Mayo states that if she'd been aware of the results shown in the GMOScience testing, she would have avoided buying Girl Scout cookies or expected to pay a reduced price.
With a fraud charge, it will be up to Mayo and the other plaintiffs to prove that GSUSA was aware of the potential health threats their cookies present and played do-si-do with the truth. No date has been set for the trial yet.
Related Resources
- Dangerous Foods and the Law (FindLaw's Consumer Protection Law)
- Everything You Need To Know About Fraud Crimes and Fraud Law (FindLaw's Criminal Charges)
- Sell Girl Scout Cookies at Work, Get Fired? (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life)
