A Sam’s Club shopper says she made an unpleasant discovery after bringing home a rotisserie chicken, and she shared what she believed were insect larvae on the cooked bird in an Instagram Reel. Sabrinajohnson776 said she bought the rotisserie chicken from Sam’s Club and noticed what appeared to be “fly larvae or some sort of bug larva on it.”
She said she has purchased rotisserie chickens from both Sam’s Club and Costco regularly and estimated that she eats them about three times a week. “How many times have I actually eaten bug larvae or raw chicken?” she said in the Reel. “Absolutely disgusting.”
The discovery prompted her to tell viewers to stop buying chickens from both warehouse clubs. “Let’s make chickens at home,” she said.
Johnson also targeted packaging, the product display, and price.
Sabrinajohnson776 also expressed concern about the chicken’s packaging and product display in the store. She claimed the chickens sit in plastic bags and containers for extended periods and suggested that exposure to heat could cause plastics and chemicals to enter the food.
She also questioned how a chicken that large could sell for about $5. “That has to be pumped with hormones, stuff like that,” she said.
She also brought Costco into the discussion, citing a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging a Salmonella contamination risk involving Costco’s Kirkland Signature rotisserie chickens, as Reuters reported. Sam’s Club and Costco are both membership warehouse clubs that sell groceries and other merchandise, often in larger quantities or at prices designed to offer value to members.
Sam’s Club is a division of Walmart and operates more than 600 clubs across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Costco describes itself as a membership warehouse club with more than 800 locations worldwide. The two companies are competitors, but the claims in the Instagram Reel concern different products and different companies.
Sam’s Club’s own information says its rotisserie chickens undergo food-safety checks, including temperature checks during cooking. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service prohibits the use of hormones in poultry, despite Johnson’s claim. The FDA has also not approved steroid hormone implants for growth purposes in chickens.
The FDA says microplastics and nanoplastics can be present in food, but current scientific evidence does not demonstrate that the levels detected in food pose a human health risk. The agency also says there is not sufficient scientific evidence to show that microplastics from plastic food packaging migrate into food and beverages.
We Got This Covered has reached out to Sam’s Club, Costco, and Sabrinajohnson776 for further comment.
Published: Aug 7, 2026 12:02 pm