Costco says claims against its $5 rotisserie chicken 'fatally flawed'

[Zorro]

In the proposed class action lawsuit, attorneys representing the shoppers claim that Costco violated Washington’s Consumer Protection Act and California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, along with other California statutes.

Costco seared consumer claims made in a lawsuit about alleged preservatives in its popular $5 rotisserie chicken, according to a recent legal filing.

Two Costco customers in California argued in a proposed class action complaint filed in January that the Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken contains preservatives carrageenan and sodium phosphate, despite company advertising that claims the opposite.

But Charles Sipos, the attorney representing the Issaquah-based warehouse club, called the plaintiffs’ argument about false advertising “fatally flawed” because carrageenan and sodium phosphate are not categorized as preservatives by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s regulations. Instead, he said they’re listed as ingredients that are part of the roasted bird’s seasoning.

Carrageenan is an additive made of seaweed that thickens and preserves processed foods. Sodium phosphate is another additive in processed foods, used for thickening, curing, leavening and emulsifying.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/06/08/costco-rotisserie-chicken-claims/?share=iso2i6i0enosmmwotmnl

On the surface this appears to be a frivolous lawsuit, the kind that makes people really hate lawyers...

[underpants]

1. A whole cooked chicken for $5. I used a $20 bucket of Hardee's fried chicken as 1/2 a weeks good

back when I was single.

I get that there’s false advertising. Okay.
That’s a lot of well cooked chicken for $5. Back in the day that and a loaf of bread was high living.

Seriously, it’s good.

[Sympthsical]

3. Especially given the alternatives

For years I've been buying the 10 lbs frozen boneless skinless breasts at Costco. It used to be around $20, but it's been steadily increasing since Covid and now lives around $30.

I finally started doing some math. If I just go to Costco, spend $5, and carve it all up myself, it's now actual savings. 2-3 lbs of meat at $5 a pop is closer to that $20 I originally had been spending five or six years ago. And not just savings, I don't have to cook the shit.

Go to Costco on Sunday, that's my week sorted. I can make all kinds of meals with it and halve the cooking effort in the process.

From my cold dead hands, lawsuit people!

[yardwork]

7. The only problem is that we also buy the huge jar of Macadamia Nut Caramel Clusters.

Damn them.

[travelingthrulife]

9. Ya gotta walk right by those 'treats' aisles...

[Sympthsical]

11. My Costco puts the bread in the treat aisle

One time, they put birthday cake donuts between the keto bread and the low carb tortillas.

I'm telling you. Mephistopheles is running that store, because those are some placement choices.

[Sympthsical]

10. Oh, let me tell you about this weekend

Long story short, my partner is always borderline pre-diabetic. It's a genetic thing in his family. He's a healthy guy who works out regularly and all that. It's just . . . Filipino diet isn't super helpful. ("Oh, we're having rice with every meal, including breakfast?!) And I've been in school and sitting a lot, so even though I do gym 5 times a week, being more disciplined with diet wouldn't steer me wrong. Scrub season starts up again in August! So we go to Costco to stock up on some healthy staple things to last 3 months or so. Proteins, nuts, oatmeal, frozen veggies and berries, low carb tortillas, etc. Shelf stable basics.

I don't know wtf happened, but somehow there's a strawberry cream pie in the fridge, double baked pistachio croissants, a pound cake for some reason, a bag of doritos, etc.

It turned into this, "Ok, diet starts when this is all gone." Babe, we got this from Costco. "When this is all gone" could be November.

2027.

[yardwork]

13. Sounds like you did good!

We have that bag of Doritos too.

[Sympthsical]

15. They were on sale for $4.99!

It's not like you can just not buy them at that point!

[niyad]

2. A Costco rotisserie chicken is 4.99 for a 3 lb bird. From this, I get

6-8 servings, plus bone broth from the carcass. At my King Soopers, a 2 lb rotisserie bird is 9.99, and usually overdone. Same at safeway, and I don't touch theirs. So where a
is Costco "charging more". My guess is that the plaintiffs want a cash payout to shut up and go away.

[Ilsa]

4. It's the best deal ever! The whole chickens at the

grocery store are the size of small turkeys and cost a ridiculous amount.

I like making chicken enchiladas, King Ranch chicken, cajun chicken and rice, chicken salad, etc.

[obamanut2012]

12. Same! Meat for two meals for both of us

Then meat for s big thing of chicken vegetable soup I freeze in Souper Cubes which lasts us quite a while, and some of the leg meat as a treat for the Queen Kitties. Even with the price increase, what a bargain.

[Ms. Toad]

16. It's a labeling issue, which can be life-threatening.

The image in the article does not list carrageenan as an ingredient at all. Costco asserts the suit is flawed because carrageenan is not a preservative (so it can claim no preservatives), but it is listed as a seasoning ingredient.

If that is the case, there isn't much of a case because there is notice that the ingredient is present (despite the claim of no preservatives). If it is actually not listed at all, there is valid reason for some legal action.

As a concrete example of why accurate labels are critical, my daughter has a poultry allergy - it kicks her ulcerative colitis out of remission, increasing her risk of cancer each time it happens. She learned from a very young age (7-ish) to ask about any meat which not labeled, or obviously non poultry. A local restaurant labeled unidentifiable ground meat as taco beef. Had it said taco meat, my then 10-ish year old daughter would have asked to see the label - but since she knew beef meant cow, she didn't ask. Sure enough, she was out of remission in 3 days and we had no idea why, until we went back to the restaurant a couple of weeks later and I remembered what she ate the last time we had been there. We had them check the ingredients - and sure enough - the meat was turkey - not beef. We didn't sue, but we did get the corporation involved, twice, when they reverted to the old labels after they had been corrected.

Had my daughter's reaction been anaphylaxis, rather than a mild bout of hives and kicking her out of remission, that failure to label correctly might have killed her.

Carageen carries identical risks for my daughter - it is a gut inflammatory agent, which many people with IBD (including my daughter) avoid. She reads labels very closely to avoid things likely to kick her out of remission. She wouldn't have been eating chicken, so this mislabeling would not have impacted her - but others with IBD would have been impacted.

[niyad]

17. I do understand the life-threatening issues. I have several sensitivities

(nothing as serious as your daughter's, more annoying and inconvenient) that have me checking labels carefully. And I have friends with severe allergies, so we are all mindful when we get together. The image in the article is from 2005. Costco, at least in my area, sells their rotisserie chickens in handy bags (I do sometimes miss those useful containers), with labelled ingredients.

[KT2000]

5. Deep pockets

Costco does not fold at the sign of a lawsuit. They know they are a target for the lawyers and idiots.

Tell the fools to go sue Kroger and Safeway. I love my $4.99 chicken.

[yellowcanine]

6. This is why we can't have nice things.

Leave the Costco chicken alone! It is delicious.

[mcar]

8. We love our $4.99 Costco chickens!

I couldn't cook one for that price. SO and I get 3 dinners and several days' worth of soup out of it. These people are not going to succeed, IMO.

[miyazaki]

14. I'd rather see a lawsuit to bring back the combo pizza

Seriously.

Funny, you can still get it in Japan.

[hvn_nbr_2]

18. Sounds like a lawyer-initiated shakedown.

They hope to get a quick payoff to avoid a trial. The lawyers will get a couple million, the "wronged consumers" will get a coupon for 25 cents off a chicken that is only valid between May 23 and July 1 of 2028. I can't understand why judges approve agreements like this but they do all the time.