{"id":5590,"date":"2026-02-18T20:36:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/?p=5590"},"modified":"2026-02-18T21:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T02:11:12","slug":"federal-class-action-filed-against-costco-over-salmonella-in-its-chicken-supply-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/news\/federal-class-action-filed-against-costco-over-salmonella-in-its-chicken-supply-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Class Action Filed Against Costco Over Salmonella in Its Chicken Supply Chain"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<section class=\"normal_content bg-white padding-top-small padding-bottom-large\" style=\"\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"row center-md\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-md-7\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"content-styled\"><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/government\/costco-sued-over-alleged-salmonella-risk-rotisserie-chicken-2026-02-13\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">federal class action lawsuit <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was filed last week against Costco, following <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/publications\/inside-costcos-chicken-supply-chain-salmonella-contamination-and-the-true-costs-of-the-4-99-rotisserie-chicken\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">an investigation by Farm Forward<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that showed repeated failures to meet federal salmonella standards at the retailer\u2019s chicken plant. The lawsuit was submitted in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, where Costco\u2019s corporate headquarters are based. It alleges that the company has misled consumers about the safety of its well-known $4.99 rotisserie chicken and raw chicken parts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The complaint relies heavily on Farm Forward\u2019s recent report, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;<\/span><\/i><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inside Costco\u2019s Chicken Supply Chain: Salmonella Contamination and the True Costs of the $4.99 Rotisserie Chicken<\/span><\/em><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.,&#8221;<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which revealed that Costco\u2019s Fremont, Nebraska, plant has failed USDA salmonella standards 92% of the time since the plant opened in 2019. The company\u2019s persistent failure to address rampant contamination in its plant shows a disregard for consumer safety, prioritizing profit over public health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lawsuit argues that Costco\u2019s marketing has created false expectations of safety among consumers. \u201cReasonable consumers do not expect that the Costco chicken in their cart has a double-digit percentage chance of containing a dangerous pathogen,\u201d the filing states. The suit demands that Costco change both its marketing and management practices with respect to its chicken supply chain. Costco is uniquely positioned to improve the welfare and quality of chicken, since they are the only US retailer to own their own chicken operation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This legal action follows <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/news\/diners-beware-usda-wont-keep-salmonella-contaminated-chicken-and-turkey-off-your-plate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Farm Forward\u2019s broader investigation into the USDA\u2019s failure to protect consumers from salmonella<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which has revealed similar failures at other major poultry brands. The case is a clear articulation of growing concerns about food safety, transparency, and corporate accountability in the poultry industry.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":5524,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,27,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animal-product-labeling","category-humanewashing","category-public-health-pandemics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}