The renowned American warehouse chain store, Costco, has once again faced a new lawsuit over its signature rotisserie chicken. An animal rights non-profit organization alleged that the chicken processing plant in Nebraska owned by Costco had an issue with Salmonella contamination. This marks the second lawsuit within a month for this popular rotisserie chicken.
According to Reuters, the proposed class-action lawsuit filed on Thursday, February 13, referenced a study from December by Farm Forward, which criticized the safety conditions at Costco’s high-quality poultry processing plant in Lincoln.
The plant, which opened in 2019, processes over one billion chickens annually.
The lawsuit claims that the Fremont, Nebraska plant “continuously” fails to meet the safety standards of the United States Department of Agriculture, with over 9.8% of whole chickens and 15.4% of chicken parts testing positive for Salmonella contamination.
During last month’s annual shareholder meeting, the company stated that global sales of rotisserie chicken are expected to exceed 157 million by the year 2025.
The lawsuit filed on Thursday stated, “Costco has failed to control Salmonella contamination in its chicken supply, which is not a trivial technical issue—it poses a real threat to consumers and betrays their trust.”
Both Costco and the Lincoln plant did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comments on Friday. The Lincoln plant is not a defendant in this case.
Plaintiff Lisa Taylor, from Affton, Missouri, filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Seattle, alleging that she purchases one or two rotisserie chickens monthly at Costco’s stores in the St. Louis area and believes she has been overcharged because Costco did not disclose the contamination risk.
She represents consumers who have purchased Kirkland Signature rotisserie and raw chicken products since January 1, 2019, seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She claims that Costco violated Washington state’s consumer protection laws and breached an implied warranty of chicken being safe to consume.
Farm Forward, founded in 2007, expresses that its mission is to “end industrial animal farming by changing agricultural production practices, policies, and the narratives we tell about animal agriculture.”
In a separate class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in San Diego on January 22, it was alleged that Costco falsely advertised that its Kirkland Signature seasoned rotisserie chicken did not contain preservatives, when in reality, it contained two preservatives—sodium phosphate and carrageenan.
Since 2009, Costco has maintained the price of its signature rotisserie chicken at $4.99, despite inflation. Richard Galanti, former Chief Financial Officer of Costco, stated that while this pricing strategy results in an annual loss of $30 to $40 million in gross profit for the company, they have no plans to raise prices.
To maintain low prices, Costco established its own poultry processing plant in Nebraska to save 35 cents per chicken. However, this decision has also sparked controversies regarding animal welfare. A few years ago, two shareholders accused Costco of “illegally neglecting and abandoning” the chickens raised at the Fremont, Nebraska plant, which eventually became the $4.99 rotisserie chickens sold in stores.