Tell Costco Cheap Chickens are Inhumane

In June 2018, COSTCO broke ground on a giant new poultry processing facility in Fremont, about an hour east of Omaha. The plant will process more than 2 million chickens a week, or more than 100 million birds a year, and provide as much as 43 percent of Costco’s rotisserie chickens, as well as around one third of the raw birds it sells. While the focus has been on the impact to local farmers, the real impact is that in order to continue to supply ridiculously low-priced rotisserie chicken ($4.99) for greedy customers, millions of chickens will be confined to 500 barns. In an era of trying to raise free range or at least free run chickens, this will go back to inhumane factory farming where these birds will not be able to move, engage in natural behaviours and have access to natural foods. To increase tastiness, COSTCO injects their chickens with a special saline solution to add flavor. The birds pack in a total 460 milligrams of sodium each. Please let COSTCO know that factory farming is cruel and should not be supported just to provide low-cost poultry for a demanding public.