Costco mistreats the birds used for rotisserie chickens, new lawsuit alleges
Two Costco shareholders sued the company, saying that it mistreats and neglects the chickens used for its low-priced rotisserie chickens.
The complaint, filed by the organization Legal Impact for Chickens on behalf of shareholders Krystil Smith and Tyler Lobdell, accuses Costco of violating animal welfare laws in order to “supply itself with a large quantity of cheap chicken meat.”
Costco did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
Costco sells its cooked rotisserie chickens for $4.99 each, a “widely-known and prominent feature” of its business model to lure customers into stores, according to the lawsuit. In order to maintain a constant supply of chickens and not raise prices, the company “knowingly propagates chickens that are bred to grow so fast that many of them cannot stand under their own weight,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit accuses Costco of then sending those chickens “to dirty, crowded factory farms, run by inexperienced contract growers who Costco recruited and trained.”
“There, disabled birds slowly die from hunger, thirst, injury, and illness,” the complaint said, adding that company directors and officers “cause and are aware of these illegal practices.”
The lawsuit also says that the company’s practices violate animal welfare laws in Iowa and Nebraska, two states where Costco raises its chickens. By extension, the shareholders bringing to complaint accuse the company of violating its commitment to shareholders to act lawfully, thus breaching its fiduciary duties.
The company openeda $450 million chicken processing facility in Nebraska in 2019 to keep costs low, Insider reported. The plant processes about 2 million chickens a week, supplying about half its total rotisserie chickens and a third of its raw chicken products, Insider and Civil Eats reported .
Costco previously responded to a 2021 report by the group Mercy for Animals by telling Insider that the company’s committed to maintaining “the highest standards of animal welfare, humane processes, and ethical conduct throughout the supply chain.”
After Mercy for Animals released their report, a fan page dedicated to Costco’s rotisserie chicken pivoted to advocating for chickens’ welfare. The page, “Costco Rotisserie Chicken,” has over 18,000 fans on Facebook.
“Once lauded as an innovative warehouse club, Costco today represents a grim existence for animals who are warehoused in inescapable misery,” Legal Impact for Chickens president Alene Anello said in a statement. “Costco’s executives must agree to follow both the law and general decency in order for Costco to resume being seen as an industry leader.”
Costco sells millions of rotisserie chickens every year, topping 106 million in 2021, Eat This Not That reported. The price of the chicken has remained at $4.99 since 2009, according to the outlet.
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