A new lawsuit alleges that Costco, by trying to cut costs for their rotisserie chickens, is violating animal welfare laws.
Costco sells the popular Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken for $4.99 each.
Legal Impact for Chickens, the group behind the lawsuit, claimed, “Costco’s directors and officers have violated their fiduciary duty by knowingly causing Costco to neglect and abandon chickens in violation of state law” — namely, in Nebraska and Iowa where the company keeps chickens.
The lawsuit also claimed that the wholesale retailer bred their chickens so quickly that “many of them cannot stand under their own weight.”
“Costco then sends millions of these fast-growing birds 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 lawsuit continues.
The lawsuit draws upon a 2021 New York Times article and an undercover investigation from the animal welfare group Mercy for Animals as proof that the mistreatment of the chickens has become public knowledge.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at krodriguez@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips.
Ad Choices