Costco Wholesale: Graphic photos of two bloody rotisserie chickens back complaints

A Costco Wholesale member in Texas bought two Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie Chickens and when she got them home, found they were undercooked and bloody, as the photos she sent to me by email attest.

Since at least 2015, complaints about bloody, undercooked rotisserie chickens -- a huge seller -- have fallen on deaf ears at Costco.

You wouldn't even give this bloody chicken to your dog.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

I've been writing about the poor quality of the Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken since 2012, and passing along complaints from Costco Wholesale members of bloody, undercooked birds since 2015.

Now, I finally have graphic photos that show just what complaining Costco shoppers are talking about.

I ran my 2015 post -- Costco shoppers see red in 'bloody,' undercooked rotisserie chickens -- again in August, and received a comment from a woman who bought two rotisserie birds at the warehouse in Cedar Park, Texas, about 23 miles north of Austin. 

'Blood oozes'

These were her comments on Sept. 2 before she emailed me photos of her bloody chickens:

"I bought 2 chickens at Costco they were bloody in the joints, and pink on the muscle areas.

"These areas as so undercooked that bright red blood oozes when I cut into the joints. My husband called customer service and was told this is a part of the cooking process, that is a bunch of B.S

"This is not the first complaint have seen online and the problem is not fixed, I took pictures but Costco website/Facebook page does not let you post pictures.

"I thought to have a easy dinner, but ended up spending about a hour to re-cook the chicken. Maybe somebody has to get really sick and sue Costco before this problem is taken care of."

I urged her to return to the warehouse for a refund, and this is what she said:

"I did that and got a refund and took a printout from the pictures I took.

"The customer service rep argued with me that it was normal that the chicken meat was pink at the bone/tendons. I pointed out on the picture that it was raw, [and] she said, Oh, yes, that's raw.

"This is an ongoing problem with Costco rotisserie chicken and they are trying to sweep it under the carpet. There are a lot of complaints on the Internet about this. I bought this at Costco in Cedar Park TX."

New Jersey

Last week, I spoke to two Costco Wholesale members in New Jersey who are big fans of the Kirkland Signature Rotisserie Chicken.

Both said they've never bought a bird at the Teterboro warehouse off of Route 46 that was undercooked to the point it was bloody at the joints. 

One of them said the chickens are "delicious."

I did receive a complaint from a Costco member who said a chicken from the Teterboro warehouse "wasn't bloody, but not cooked properly."

Oregon, Arizona

Not all of the people who sent in comments to my original post said where they bought the chicken, but I received complaints from:

A Costco in Aloha, Oregon, March 10, 2017: "Bleeding when I cut into it. I'm not buying the chicken EVER again."

From Daniel Collins Sr., who bought a chicken at the Costco on North 27th Ave. in Phoenix, Ariz., on Jan. 23, 2017: 

"They still have not figured out how to fully cook a rotisserie chicken. At first, my wife thought she had cut herself, only to find out she didn't. Chicken was pretty bloody on the inside pretty much at every joint. It didn't seem to faze them one bit when I returned it for a refund."

Collins said he never encountered a chicken that was so badly undercooked at Walmart or Sam's Club.

Texas, Oklahoma

On Feb. 29, 2016, another Costco member said they stopped buying the rotisserie chickens, "because they are never done."

"I have bought them at 3 different Costcos in Texas, Lewisville, Frisco and Plano stores -- all same issue."

On Sept. 21. 2016, Tom Mayer commented:

"About two weeks ago, we purchased one of the Costco chickens, and same problem. It was undercooked, bloody joints. I should say we have also run across this with a Sam's Club chicken. Both stores were in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"Never run into this problem in Georgia or California."

See my post:

Costco Wholesale's rotisserie chicken

 makes great dog food