Girl's Dark Discovery About Her Girl Scout Cookies Sends Her On A Bold Mission

There's no stopping a Girl Scout with a mission, especially one like Olivia Chaffin. She'd made it her goal to sell as many Girl Scout cookies as she could in her rural Tennessee hometown, and her numbers were in the hundreds — until life threw her a curveball. The 11-year-old scout discovered a disturbing secret behind the snack's production, and she set out on a new mission: to stop the damage before it was too late.

Earning Badges

Chaffin, pictured at left here, took business seriously, earning an elite badge for selling over 600 boxes of cookies. That meant more than three thousand dollars in sales for her troop, and she wore the honor with pride — until one day at school.

A Nagging Question

Her class was learning about harmful food ingredients, and it piqued Chaffin's interest. She wondered what really went into her Thin Mints and Tagalongs. Were there additives in there that would harm humans or the environment? When she got home, she skimmed the labels for ingredients, but their wording seemed misleading.

What's Inside

Some of the ingredients were unsurprising, like flour and sugar. However, one ingredient, vaguely named "vegetable shortening," came with an unsettling description: "Palm And/Or Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oils." Chaffin remembered palm oil being mentioned in class...but her teacher had omitted some troubling details.

The Package's Promise

Below the ingredients list, the side of the package bore a "Certified Sustainable" mark. The words were joined by an emblem of an oil palm tree. That's a good sign, thought Chaffin, remembering her class lesson. But then another word made her frown.