Are you one of the many who regularly purchases roasted chickens from Costco? We tend to get ours from Sam’s Club; it’s on the way home.
To keep costs as low as possible, Costco opened the $450 million facility in Nebraska in 2019, which processes about two million chickens each week, with plans to eventually supply nearly half of the chain’s total chickens.
Mercy for Animals investigators visited Costco’s chicken processing plant, which is the focus of the criticisms and accusations. The investigation into a Costco supplier revealed tens of thousands of chickens crammed into filthy sheds and bred to grow so large so fast that their legs cannot support their weight.
According to the report, many of these animals endured short lives of chronic pain before succumbing to their ailments. Large piles of dead, rotting animals lay on the facility’s grounds outside the barns housing live chickens.
Costco claims that animal welfare is a “critical component that has been integrated into all aspects of the chicken supply chain.”
I am looking more at the cost of waste perspective. Would slowing the growth process and a cleaner environment reduce the loss and improve the product as well as the elimination of waste? Does Costco really care, or are they focused on processing the birds for sale, more than how comfortable a life the chicken lead before it became Costco’s property.