Costco says its popular $4.99 rotisserie chickens contain “seasonings” but not “preservatives.”
The grocery giant has asked a judge to toss out a lawsuit claiming it fraudulently advertised its chickens as containing no preservatives.
An ingredient at the heart of the legal fight is carrageenan, of which a Rockland, Maine plant has been a key U.S. supplier for the nation’s food industry since 1936.
Costco has neither confirmed nor denied whether it uses the Maine plant as its carrageenan supplier.
Carrageenan, an extract of seaweed, is commonly known as a food preservative.
But Costco officials are choosing to call it a “seasoning.”
Whichever the preferred definition, a consumer lawsuit says Costco falsely claimed its chickens contain no preservatives.
The supermarket chain agreed in the face of the lawsuit to stop advertising the chickens as containing no preservatives.
But with that concession it wants what it calls the “fatally flawed” lawsuit dismissed.
Costco argues that the plaintiffs in their suit failed to describe carrageenan and sodium phosphate, which it also uses, as preservatives.
A judge later this summer will hear the company’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
