This Rotisserie Chicken Salad Recall Had Costco Shoppers Hospitalized In 2015

Costco is lots of people's favorite store for weekly grocery trips. Aside from the wholesale prices (and quantities), it also offers a large section of prepared foods all sold under the Kirkland Signature brand. The popular rotisserie chicken salad is included in that lineup, but in 2015, it was actually the subject of one of the biggest Costco recalls of all time, which saw five customers hospitalized.

In October and November 2015, 19 people got infected with a special strain of E. coli that was traced back to Costco's rotisserie chicken salad. The cases were recorded in California, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. Five people had to be hospitalized, two of whom developed kidney failure — though thankfully, nobody died as a result of the infection.

Costco recalled the salad nationwide and worked closely with the authorities to find the potential source of the E. coli outbreak. While there was no official conclusion as to which ingredient in particular was contaminated, one test showed the diced celery and onion mix to be the culprit. As a result, the supplier of that veggie blend, Taylor Farms Pacific, recalled not just the celery and onion mix but several other celery-based products sold at other retailers as well. The outbreak was contained by late November 2015.

Believe it or not, the Rotisserie Chicken was not the only salad recall Costco experienced in 2015. There were two other salad recalls, both from Canada. First came the Roasted Chicken Salad, recalled in April for fear of listeria contamination. The product was recalled from the shelves in nine Canadian provinces, and no illnesses were reported.

Then, around the same time that the Rotisserie Chicken Salad recall was going on, Canadian Costco shoppers were met with a Quinoa Salad recall in early November. The recall only impacted the Quinoa Salad sold at one specific warehouse in Ontario, but it did come as a result of people getting ill. The wholesaler, however, kept mum on the details of the illnesses and what type of contamination was suspected. While recalls certainly shake the trust that customers have in the brand, Costco's loyal shoppers ultimately didn't hold the salad recalls against the grocery chain. The Rotisserie Chicken salad is still available at Costco a decade later, despite the fact that it costs about thrice as much as the $4.99 full rotisserie chicken.