The Girl Scouts of the USA said on Wednesday that child labor has no place in their iconic cookies and called on the two companies that cook them to act quickly to deal with any potential palm oil abuses in their supply chains.
The comments were sent in the form of a tweet to Associated Press reporters, who released an investigation Tuesday linking Girl Scout cookies and supply chains to other well-known food brands to about tens of thousands of children who often work unpaid for long hours in dangerous conditions to help harvest palm fruit from Indonesian plantations and Malaysia.
“Child labor has no place in the production of Girl Scout Cookie”, tweeted the Girl Scouts. “Our investment in the development of youth in our world must not be facilitated by the underdevelopment of some.”
The Girl Scouts also referred to a global non-profit organization to which it belongs, called Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, which promotes ethical production, including treating workers, writing: “If certain suppliers are not following ethical practices, we expect our bakers and RSPO act quickly to rectify these exceptions. “
The Girl Scouts did not respond to repeated AP requests for comment on the findings ahead of Tuesday’s story, which revealed that many children working in the palm oil industry do not have access to proper schooling or medical care and that some never learn how to read or write. The story details how other people live in fear of being arrested by the police and thrown into detention centers because they were born on plantations to parents who are working illegally and how girls are vulnerable to sexual abuse.
Reporters tracked child labor in the supply chain of one of the Girl Scout cookie racks, Little Brownie Bakers, owned by Italian confectionery brand Ferrero, who did not comment on the findings. The other baker and its parent, Canadian Weston Foods, did not provide any details about its supply chain, citing proprietary reasons. Both said they were committed to obtaining sustainable palm oil.