Girl guide biscuits not up to scratch

Manufacturer Griffins is offering to compensate people unhappy with their plain Girl Guide biscuits this year.

Complaints about the biscuits came to light at the start of the week and in a letter to parents of Girl Guides, GirlGuiding New Zealand chief executive Ruth Teasdale said there had been an issue with the appearance of the plain biscuits and Griffins had offered to compensate buyers.

"The changed appearance of the biscuit is the result of teething problems with a new baking line at Griffin's Auckland factory," Ms Teasdale said.

"The issue relates to Guide plain biscuits only and because it has not affected the taste or texture of the biscuits, they will not be recalled."

The problem had affected one batch of biscuits, not all of them, she said.

Ms Teasdale told the Timaru Herald the organisation was worried about the damage the episode could have on its brand, but was confident the biscuits would bounce back and look better than ever next year.

"They don't look right. It's not come for nothing, but it's not everywhere and they still taste the same."

Although she said the association would rather the incident had not happened, it was pleased Griffins was making a response.

"We are pleased to advise that Griffin's has agreed to compensate complaints by replacing the number of packets of plain Guide biscuits purchased with twice the amount of Guide choc biscuits or a Griffin's biscuit voucher."

Purchasers unhappy with their biscuits should contact Griffin's Customer Service Centre on 0800 474 337 directly.

"Griffin's will dispatch the replacement biscuits directly to the customer. The 0800 number is also on the biscuit packets. Griffin's will need to know the batch number on the packet and will ask questions about the appearance."

Ms Teasdale said the annual Guide biscuit-selling season was still important to the association. More than 45 per cent of its funds are raised during this time.

- © Fairfax NZ News