10 Frequently Returned Food Items At Costco

Even foods people love end up on the frequent return list at Costco, and there are plenty of reasons why. Knowing which ones end up being returned and why can help you keep an eye out for potential problems and give you insight into some interesting customer buying habits.

Unsurprisingly, many of the items that people frequently return to Costco are fresh ones that spoil easily. The good news is that there's no singular product on our list that is universally reviled or always a bad bet for purchase. Instead, the items you'll see here are often ones that have occasional issues or that have workarounds to avoid spoilage. Interestingly, though, there are a couple of items on our list that aren't usually returned because there's anything wrong with them, but just because people sometimes buy more than they need. Whether Costco will take them back or not is another story altogether.

Many times, you can avoid needing to make a return by simply looking carefully at items before you buy them. Unfortunately, even if you check the expiration date and do a thorough visual check of items before you put them in your cart, sometimes it's just impossible to tell that something is wrong with them until you get them home and open the package or cook the product. So, if you want to know which products at Costco you're more likely to return than others and how to hopefully avoid needing to return anything at all, read on.

With the short shelf life of produce, it's not too surprising that fresh produce is often returned to Costco. The reason most people return produce is because they get it home to find it's already gone bad. Luckily, Costco has a 100% satisfaction guarantee return policy. Since it doesn't mention any specific food return restrictions, you can go ahead and return your rotten produce.

Just like at any other grocery store, it's not uncommon to get home from Costco and find that some of the items you couldn't see clearly have already gone bad. Customers talk about encountering softer items that are moldy, like berries. However, even if you only get harder items like apples in bulk, they can still start to rot before you have time to use them all. The internet and social media is full of tales of people returning items like pea pods, squash, zucchini, and watermelons to Costco when they've encountered unwanted mold and rot. That's just the nature of produce, honestly. There have also been Costco produce recalls, like the 2019 berry recall that landed over 70 people in the hospital, related to concerns about Hepatitis A contamination.

There are a few ways to ensure a better experience with Costco produce. The most obvious is to examine produce more closely before purchase. The other is to check the expiration date to ensure it's not coming up too soon, as you shouldn't expect it to last past the date listed on the package.

Another often-returned category of product at Costco is dairy products. There are several reasons that people return dairy products, including discovering that the products are sour, moldy, leaking, or unsealed.

We've seen several customers on social media talk about needing to return spoiled Costco dairy products. One problem is getting products like milk home to find they've already soured. While many customers on social media report Costco milk staying fresh well beyond the expiration date, it still sometimes spoils when the expiration date is firmly in the future. Another problematic dairy product customers have encountered is moldy cheese. Plus, there was a whole recall on moldy Kirkland Signature Greek yogurt in 2024, coming a year after one of the biggest Costco recalls of all time on yogurt in 2023 that contained undisclosed eggs (a possible allergen).

Leaking and unsealed packaging are also issues for dairy products. When customers discover that the packages are leaking, it raises questions about how tight the seals are or if bacteria could have seeped in from the breakage point. If you're returning something like a punctured carton of milk, a Costco employee on social media suggests taking a picture of it leaking and dumping out the milk before returning the carton. After all, you don't want it spilling all over your vehicle before you can get it back to the store. The other issue is getting dairy products home to find that the product seals aren't intact, bringing up product safety concerns.

Costco sells lots of nuts, which is why it's not surprising that some bad batches get through sometimes. To put the amount of nuts the company sells into perspective, it's responsible for selling half of the world's cashews. The reasons people end up returning their nuts tend to relate to taste and overall quality.

Overcooking can sometimes be an issue with the nuts people return to Costco. Customers on social media have talked about getting burned nuts, like Kirkland pistachios. Another customer complained of overly-dry pecan halves which looked unappetizing and left much to be desired in the flavor and texture departments.

Customers also sometimes end up returning Costco nuts because of rancidity or insect infestations. Walnuts specifically seem to have lots of issues, with many people complaining about getting ones that taste stale, bitter, or even rancid. The telltale sign your walnuts have gone bad is a darker color from oxidation, which is why they're honestly better to buy with the shell on if you can find them that way elsewhere. Sometimes, the cashews can be off, too. Another problem people have found is worms or evidence thereof in products like almonds, mixed nuts, and cashews.

While there are plenty of great packaged foods at Costco, sometimes trying a new protein bar can be a gamble. Although, there are some that people return more often. Usually, when people return the protein bars they get at Costco, it's about getting one that just doesn't taste good.

One brand that's notoriously bad is the Kirkland protein bar, which one of our writers ranked as being the absolute worst when trying five of Costco's snack bars. The texture and flavor leaves a lot to be desired. One person on social media said their cashier had processed enough returns on this bar brand to not have to be told how it affected their intestines negatively. These bars do have a lot of fiber. So, it's not too surprising that the product doesn't agree with everyone, leading to people returning it for their money back.

We've seen some complaints on social media about other bars as well. For example, one person returned the Bear Naked almond butter bars because they found the flavor to be fairly unpleasant. While some commenters thought they tasted just fine and were among their favorites, others weren't that thrilled with their texture. Luckily, Costco's generous return policy extends to being able to return items that you dislike even if there's nothing physically wrong with them beyond your own personal preference.

While you'd hope that packaged fresh meat would be a good bet, that's just not always the case, even at Costco. There are lots of ways to tell if your meat has spoiled whether it's clear from the packaging or not.

Sometimes, everything looks fine in the store, but once people got the meat home and tried it, it was clear that something was wrong. People have returned bacon for tasting a bit off. Even if the best-by date hasn't passed yet, they'll open up their package of meat only to find that it doesn't quite smell right. Taste and smell can be indicators that the meat has spoiled. So, it's definitely best to err on the side of caution and return it if there's any doubt in your mind. Always check the expiration date if something smells or tastes off because some people have found that they've accidentally purchased already-expired products, and the store needs to know to pull them off the shelf if there are still more out.

Some of the reasons we've found for people returning Costco meat aren't something you'd expect to encounter. For example, one person found feathers in their ground turkey. Another customer on social media ended up returning a normally beloved marinated skirt steak because of a marinade mistake. Somehow, the meat department ended up adding so much sugar that it tasted like a desert. Although these both seem to be one-off mistakes for particular batches, human error happens.

Fish is one Costco product that will often let you know immediately if something is wrong with it because of its bad smell. Although, sometimes the hint that they've spoiled doesn't come until after they're cooked and people bite into a product that just doesn't taste right.

With so much of the fish carrying high price tags, customers are quick to return them when there are indications that it may be spoiled. Customers on social media have reported returning stinky Chilean sea bass, frozen mahi that tasted wrong, lox that clearly wasn't fresh, and smelly salmon to Costco. Even more disturbing was the family that found worms surfacing in their sea bass when they started cooking it.

Keep in mind that the smell and taste aren't the only indicators to watch out for. Frail bones are the most unexpected sign that your fish has gone bad, and cloudy eyes, slime, and discoloration should be taken seriously, too. With Costco's return policy being so generous, it's simply better to return your fish if you have any doubts on its freshness level to stay on the safe side.

While bagels and bread tend to have clear packaging to help you see if anything's wrong with them, sometimes you can still end up with a faulty product that needs returning. Unfortunately, these two specific bakery products tend to go moldy quickly enough that people have started to notice. However, rather than not buying them or returning them over and over, they've come up with a solution: freeze them.

Among the products many people on social media seem to have problems with, bagels and bread rank highly, with both having the ability to go moldy within a few days. The problem with Costco's bakery bagels, according to customers, is a lack of preservatives, unlike many commercial brands. With some even experiencing this problem in dry climates, keeping the food from going bad seems to be more about temperature than humidity. Customers suggest refrigerating bakery bagels and bread or even freezing these items if they don't plan to eat them within two or three days to avoid decay. Others say that just keeping them in the fridge rather than out on the counter can keep the items good for weeks after the sell-by date.

Lots of people end up returning off bagels and bread and the store accepts them. However, it's best to just refrigerate or freeze them in the first place so that you don't have to worry about having to go that route now that you know it's a common issue.

One of the flour-based items that end up getting returned often at Costco are the tortillas. We've seen complaints of mold on at least a couple of types that have prompted complaints or returns.

One kind that has a tendency to mold is the Tortilla Fresca brand that comes uncooked. Customers on social media who have even stored them in the fridge and freezer have encountered mold on them. However, this underrated Mexican staple is still much beloved and those who enjoy them have found a way to avoid moldy ones that need to be returned. Basically, they try to always buy the ones with the latest expiration date and freeze the portion they don't use immediately.

Ready-made tortillas like the Las Fortunitas organic tortillas are also ones that people on social media sometimes find mold on. Like with the uncooked ones, customers suggest keeping them in the fridge or freezer rather than expecting them to last for weeks on end out in the countertop. Other chains like Trader Joe's have come under scrutiny on social media for their tortillas molding quickly, too. Basically, when there aren't a lot of preservatives, you have to assume they're not going to last for weeks on end without proper storage.

Egg returns tend to fall into a slightly different category than other Costco returns. The main reasons they get returned seem to be because of hoarding or recalls rather than the normal reasons you'd expect.

Egg returns at Costco aren't always successful, but that's because a lot of people have tried to take advantage of the company's return policies during egg shortages. There are social media reports of Costco locations that have specifically refused to take back bulk purchases of eggs. So, if you panic buy a thousand eggs and try to return them because you found a better deal elsewhere or couldn't sell them like you thought you could, you're probably going to be stuck with a thousand eggs. Some Costco locations actually require people making bulk orders like that to fill out a form that explicitly limits returns. So, the average person should be able to return a carton of eggs that are defective. Although, to avoid such a situation, it's best to check your eggs before you buy them anyway to ensure you're not getting ones that are broken.

There was also a famous recall of more than 10,000 units of Kirkland Signature organic eggs in 2024. With these eggs possibly carrying salmonella, Costco offered a full refund for anyone who returned them to the store. Luckily, Costco egg recalls aren't common.

Alcohol is one product that gets returned to Costco often for a reason you might not expect. Specifically, people tend to buy alcohol from Costco in bulk for weddings and parties and then try to return the unopened bottles that guests don't drink. Especially during wedding season (usually between June and November), Costco gets a lot of wedding alcohol returns or attempted returns.

Whether or not you can return alcohol to Costco depends entirely on which state you live in. So, be sure you know what the laws are in your area before trying to return a large quantity of alcohol. To find out whether or not your location can even legally accept alcohol returns, you should definitely ask before making such a sizable purchase. Although, we suppose there are worse things than getting stuck with a bunch of unconsumed alcohol. Also, even if your Costco does accept alcohol returns, they only accept unopened bottles.