Horrified woman discovers raw Costco Epping chicken

Hundreds have complained about undercooked chicken at a Melbourne Costco store, but despite months of gripes the retail giant is standing by its “pink” meat — here’s their explanation.

A chicken purchased from Costco Epping.

A Whittlesea woman says she was “horrified” to discover a rotisserie chicken she bought from Epping Costco was still raw in the middle.

The woman, who does not want to be named, is one of hundreds of people to take to social media to talk about raw, slimy and red chicken being sold at the megastore, which opened last August.

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“As soon as I cut into it I said ‘oh my goodness, that’s disgusting’. I’ve worked in hospo (hospitality) and I’ve worked for Red Rooster and that’s a no-no,” the woman said.

The woman said when she complained about the chicken to store staff they advised her to “put it in the microwave” before refunding her.

Photos of a cooked chicken which was bought from the store on Saturday and had an unknown white mucus substance inside attracted more than 170 comments on social media.

An unknown substance on a roast chicken bought from Costco Epping.

A cooked chicken from Costco Epping.

Nicole Elverd said she would never buy another rotisserie chicken from the store.

“Bought one, came home, was pink, called up got a refund,” she said.

“Figured it was an error and bought another … pink.

“Seen too many posts about undercooked chooks to try again.”

Brianna Love said she had seen complaints about the store’s hot chicken “so many times”.

“Clearly Costco isn’t cooking their chickens correctly,” Ms Love said.

Complaints about uncooked chicken from the store started in January.

Costco did not respond to questions about whether it had received formal complaints about the chicken, if it had changed its cooking practices and whether customers who complained would be refunded.

A generic letter from the Costco assistant general merchandise manager titled “Pink colour in Rotisserie Chicken” said there were “a number of external and environmental factors that can cause meat to be pink yet still fully cooked and safe to eat”.

He said factors included nitrites in the marinade, pH levels in the meat and muscle pigments.

All rotisserie chickens were cooked to an internal temperature of 84C, he said.