One of the most successful fundraising programs QSP offers is the Tasty Batters Frozen Cookie Dough program. Having personally tried the products and similar competitor products its important to note that all dough is not created equal.
One of the most noticeable differences between brands is the cost and let’s face it the more a group sells the more profit they make, which is the whole reason to run a fundraising campaign. But if you dig a little deeper you will find out just why some Cookie Dough is much less expensive than others.
Trans fats are used in the production of pastries, other baked goods and some packaged goods to extend shelf life. In April 2017 Health Canada issued a news release proposing to prohibit the main source of industrially produced Trans Fats in food.
“Through the Healthy Eating Strategy, our government is working to make the healthier choice the easier choice. By prohibiting partially hydrogenated oils, we are removing the largest source of industrial trans fats from Canada’s food supply and helping reduce the risk of heart disease.”
The Honourable Jane Philpott
Minister of Health
What are trans fats exactly? According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Trans fats are a type of fat found in some foods. Artificial trans fat is made when hydrogen is added to a liquid vegetable oil to make it more solid.
Trans fats can be found in commercially baked and fried foods made with vegetable shortening, such as fries and donuts. It’s also in hard stick margarine and shortening and some snack and convenience foods. When you see “partially hydrogenated oils” on the label of a processed food, that means it contains trans fats.
Ok so in layman’s terms, they take a liquid unsaturated fat and turn into a solid fat by adding hydrogen which gives us trans fat. For a more scientific breakdown, you can head over to Wikipedia and read all about it.
So bottom line companies use hydrogenated oil to help increase shelf life and save costs.
Preservatives are also added to some cookies so it lasts longer than many other foods without spoiling. One of the most common preservatives I found in the nutritional information of several brands of Frozen cookie dough is Citric Acid.
Up until the late 1900’s, 90% of the worlds citric acid was produced in Italy, that is of course until they learned how they could lower the costs. Researchers found that fungi produced citric acid during fermentation. A variety of yeasts and molds make citric acid, but Aspergillus niger, a mold that belongs to the same family as penicillin, is used for large-scale production. If you’re interested in the more scientific explanation you can go to Taylor and Francis online.
If that’s not bad enough try looking up bleached flour, cottonseed oil, which happens to have great insecticidal properties, especially if you have trees that need protecting from the apple clearwing moth. And don’t forget about Polysorbate 60.
So the next time your thinking of selling Frozen Cookie Dough as a fundraiser look at the ingredients. Many if not all of the companies have the ingredients available for you download right from there websites.
Look for products that are preservative and trans fat-free, and then ask yourself if you are willing to pay an extra .10 per cookie.,
