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There was probably a bad orange or two in that bag when you bought it. Regardless you really should be taking the produce out of the bags and washing the exterior, then immediately refrigerating. I say this with years of experience in selling produce.
Yea people need to understand that as soon as the fruit is picked it starts to die and rot and you have to take steps to prevent it. Like if I cut off your hand how good do you think it will look 2 weeks later lol.
Climacteric fruit do. Non-climacteric fruit (which includes all citrus) do not ripen off the tree, the only change they go through once picked is decay.
Yeah but of ALL stores. Costco fruit is either already bad in the store or goes bad the absolute fastest of any other store out there.
I could buy fruit off the back of a truck in the desert that’s been there for 3 months and it’ll last longer than costcos fruit.
This is why I started to try to look at the dates and digging to find a newer date to get an edge. Ugh. Also been buying fruit and veg in smaller quantities at Aldi.
Onions need to be in a cool (not cold) dark place, ideally not touching one another. It depends on the type of onion how long they should last though.
Edit: keep in mind that all bulb onions have been cured for 2-6 weeks before they even get shipped out to the store.
Rinse your produce in diluted vinegar it will stay fresher for longer. I've done and leafy greens stay crispier for longer. It kills the bacteria on it which just rinsing does not.
Interesting. So you get the produce home, rinse it in the vinegar, dry it and put it in the fridge ? I’ll try that.
Only with fruit with skin or like berries too?
Yes to this!
You’ve gotta inspect the fruit to make sure no signs that one is bad. And for sure you must prep them once home! My Costco shop day is also my fruit and veg prep day. I wash everything, dry everything (if still damp, use some paper towels in the storage system), store in prepped containers so they’re ready to go. One big fruit and veg shop per week lasts me the week til my next Costco run. I buy the produce there regularly and love it.
I do that with most produce like strawberries, grapes, kiwi, apples etc but not oranges, bananas necessarily. I thought can keep oranges at room temperature but guess not.
you shouldn't refrigerate kiwis right away, they ripen like bananas at room temp. so you should only refrigerate those after they are ripened. oranges dont ripen, so theres no downside to refrigerate them right away.
Oranges just taste better when cold as oppose to room temp, they don't go bad in fridge so no real down side and yeah I do believe they last longer too
My wife, who is very knowledgeable about produce in general, insists oranges get sweeter after refrigerating them for a while. But she doesn't like to eat them cold, so she takes them out for a while first.
You just answered your own question, they don't keep fresh produce on the shelves. They're notorious for bad produce. I can think of maybe one occasion where I got a good pack of strawberries.
Also with the berries, the vinegar wash method works great for extending their life.
If you've only had one good pack of strawberries from Costco, then you just suck at buying produce there. This applies to any grocery store, but you have to look at what you're buying. Sometimes, you want to make a strawberry tart, but if you go to the store and all the strawberries there look like Mike Tyson went 10 rounds with them, then you don't buy them. Most of the time, the produce is pretty good, though.
Agreed. You always have to look at the produce. Also anytime I'm buying something I'm looking at the packaged on date and trying to grab the most recent one.
They usually have good strawberries (and sometimes grapes), but these bagged oranges are especially bad. I had to stop buying them. They look fine at first, but then spoil after 2 days. I even take them all out of the bag and wash the surface when I get them home. Now I buy a similarly sized bag of navel oranges at my grocery store and have never had this happen.
Agreed, if you just grab a random pack (especially the top crappy one no one is picking) you’re bound to have this happen.
I search every bag I buy to get the good stuff. I’ve consistently had good luck with berries, mangos, tomatoes, avocados, onions, asparagus, Brussels sprouts and potatoes. But I know how to pick!
Checked the oranges by kinda moving around oranges in the bag to make sure there is no hidden spoilt one. I make sure to check the produce when buying to make sure I am not bringing already rotten produce home
Ignore these people. Costco produce is always questionable, going bad, or straight up bad. I will buy meat and dairy and sealed items, but the produce section is the worst part about Costco. Never again.
Some ppl on this post are calling me names being rude saying I dint check the produce so I deserve it lol and some are saying how can I buy produce that looks like this. Seriously! Ppl think I bought the oranges looking like this hahah
Gotta rip the cardboard and grab from the bottom. Probably frowned upon, but I've gotten burned too many times. It'd be fine if they'd accept a picture for a return, but they do not. If I open a bag of broccoli and it's rancid, I'm not keeping that bag around for a week so I can return it. And I'm not driving across town for $8.
Yes I need to stop buying produce from Costco. I have this habit of trying to get as much as I can from Costco, I have to break this habit lol and get fresh produce from somewhere else. Lesson learned
It's wholly related to distribution center proximity and or demographic, I'm convinced. I've always had great produce at Costco but have been in areas that are on the good side of both those variables
We used to be on the "good side" of the supply chain and the produce was decent.
Now I'm on the far end of the supply chain and the produce is poor quality. It's a death spiral ... no one buys, shelf time increases, produce gets worse ... fewer buy.
So I buy from a regional chain that has high turnover and fresh produce.
No matter what I do with Costco bananas, they end up mottled lime green and dirt brown. Sometimes it takes a day or two, sometimes a week, but the only universal constant is that there is no edible, yellow stage in there.
As others have noted, of course this will vary greatly by location, but anecdotal evidence on here really paints a damning picture of this particular item.
Same. I'm in Canada though so I don't know if thats a difference.
Produce is so much cheaper at Costco. We get mushrooms, berries, apples, oranges, and cucumbers there. I have almost always gotten a good bag.
I am in Vancouver and things like Apple's I know should be only grown a couple hours away in the Okanagan.
I hate these oranges in particular. We eat them so fast but even so, more than half went bad. Our strawberries actually lasted much longer which is wild
Right! Some shitheads are going around saying its not Costco’s fault but my fault for picking these oranges without checking lol. I did check them and they still went bad. My fault is not eating them fast enough like you did
Costco fruits and veggies are awful. They are practically at the end of their lifespan by the time you purchase. I have maybe 2 days tops before they turn to mold messes. Sad too because some of the bulk veggies I really want to buy. Only the Brussels and broccoli last.
Also you'd be better off asking who HASN'T had a poor experience with Costco produce.
It also depends on the time of year and where you live. If the fruits you are buying are not in season where you live, then pay attention to where they are coming from because sometimes it involves a long shipping process when reduces the lifespan of the produce by the time you go to buy it.
I'm near Toronto Canada and our produce last two weeks. From washing in vinegar, to paper towel on top of spinach or spring mix, they will last if you take the necessary steps.
Also I always purchase lots with dates pushed out.
I’ve been shopping at Costco for 20+ years
Their produce has never been good
It sucks because I feel like they generate a ton of food waste as a result
Costco produce is hit or miss. I always scan the product carefully looking for rot. It's amazing how much there is. They must have a lot of waste or hope people are not that diligent.
I pretty much never buy produce from Costco because it always molds or rots within 5 days. It's hard to clear a Costco size of anything in 5 days ~~except for the cookies, that's very easy~~
I work in Costco produce. Typically we get new products every day, however due to low staffing it’s almost impossible to keep up with the proper rotation of product. Old stuff stays out way too long. Check your dates and only buy stuff that’s been packed the week you buy it. Also don’t buy grapes, we usually get them a month to two months after they have been packaged.
Produce consistently goes bad from costco no matter how good it looks in store, especially the strawberries. You'll have to eat it within the next couple of days to avoid any rot.
I've worked at 4 different Costco's in multiple states. The produce has sucked at all of them. Seriously go somewhere else for it, sure you will pay a bit more but it's worth it for the step up in quality. Costco needs to switch suppliers or at least stop buying in the biggest bulk possible. By the time you get to the bottom of the bin the stuff is terrible.
Check the packed on date of anything you buy, watch out for bruising or condensation. Inconsistent temperatures cause condensation= contributes to mold and rotting.
I made a post complaining about Costco oranges being too dry a bit ago. Some jerk acted like I was just trying to get attention. I have also gotten moldy oranges from Costco, but not at such a rate that I felt a need to make a complaint about it. I think I have that problem with oranges no matter where I get them.
Sadly, the quality of oranges, everywhere, seems to be very low. I don't know why. People will just stop buying oranges eventually. The fruit industry in general seems to be killing itself off slowly with bad produce. People give up with it.
By the time you get around to using the produce you're too late, or you won't finish all of the bulk produce by the time it goes bad. I just go to the normal grocery store for produce now.
Idk, but I’ve stopped buying their bagels, even though I like them. You have to buy a dozen of them and they get moldy within three days. No way I’m eating 4 bagels a day.
I think it might be that the heavy bags of fruit get tossed about by customers looking for what they think is best, or sometimes by employees organizing bags and being too rough. The fruit on the bottom gets bruised by the weight of the top ones.
The Costco I go to usually has great produce that lasts a long time, but occasionally there's something that is either not so fresh, or has been mishandled. I've seen customers digging through produce like it was trash or something.
As a rule, I never buy Costco fruit. I only buy vine ripe tomatoes and some of their salads. The sweet fruit is always wrong. I have never been happy with the purchase.
Same thing happened to my wife on Thursday. Checked out, went to leave, then noticed the giant mold orange at the bottom. Didn't have time to exchange so thankfully they easily returned them.
I go out of my way to not buy my produce from Costco. I have a few local markets that have local grown produce. That and I don’t need an abundance of produce going bad on me every week… so I only get what my house will eat in a week.
That sucks. Always have to eat Costco produce within a day or two. It really pisses me off when I buy a bunch of berries and they're already moldyand rotting the next day. Unfortunately I don't have time to take them back to Costco... maybe Costco figures people won't bother so they don't care.
You gotta be careful. I'm no agricultural biologist, but this stuff spreads from one fruit to the next. So when you buy these bags, you have to check that none have this stuff. And if you see one fruit in the bag has it days later, toss the infected fruit out and rinse the rest.
Question: could it be due to using Lessing chemicals to preserve? I buy a bag of apples and oranges from Kroger and they last for W E E K S. Like it’s not natural. Fruit should rot and spoil quickly (maybe not as quickly as we’d like). Just a thought, not sure!
You have a lot of things in play.
Bad product.
Inattentive stockers and forklift drivers not checking dates and product.
Customers/members not checking their bag before they leave the area.
13yr veteran employee of Costco who has done stocking and forklift driving for most of those years. I’m the current forklift driver at my store for produce.
I’m the only one who tags the procure in steel to make sure it gets dropped in rotation proper. Not by received date but pack date or sell by date.
When I went on vacation for two weeks the D&D (damage and destroy) went up like crazy. When I returned it went down.
Rinse your Costco produce (really anyone’s produce) and dry as soon as you get them home. I’ve had no issues with the oranges and lemons since I started doing it.
Idk we live in utter luxury these days compared to people in history, complaining about a company getting everything perfect isnt being realistic (just kidding they probably need to check how old these are before keeping it on shelf)
Unless you’re willing to do a vinegar wash, my rule is Costco fruit & vegetables rarely last beyond the day after you purchase them. If I need fruit to last longer, I buy elsewhere. I’m not sure why Costco fruits go bad so quickly as compared to fruits from Sam’s for example.
Fruit is the one thing I rarely buy from Costco. It either never tastes quite ripe like it was picked super early or goes bad far too quickly. The cotton candy grapes and peaches have been good. The berries and kiwi not good.
My Costco always has issues with their strawberries, specifically. Last summer, they had to get rid of the entire stock from them being stored improperly. And their bags of peeled garlic, good lord! I noticed the rotten garlic smell like a month ago and it’s become overpowering now.
I don't buy strawberries at Costco, but at my two local stores, Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park, CA, the raspberries are awful; it's not uncommon to buy them and end up dumping half the tray. I think Costco buys in such large volumes and then stores them too long that by the time they get to the sales floor, their shelf life is about 30 minutes!
I think it's because it sits around much longer than it would at a grocery store.
Our rule of thumb with Costco fruits and veggies is to only buy them if we're going to use them within the next 3 days.
Costco produce always is on the verge of molding. Especially the tomatoes. You have to turn the tomato carton over and search for the web of fuzz developing.
I have bought the bags of organic green beans for years. Suddenly, they changed the brand and they were so bitter I had to chuck the whole bag. Not saving any money buying those!
When you buy produce, take it out of the bag and wash it immediately when you get home. Any bacteria or mold on the fruit will spread much quicker when it's kept in the bag like that.
ALWAYS have to check and wash the bags of lemons or this WILL happen. Almost without fail. Got me in the habit quick after losing a chunk of lemons from a couple bags, more than once.
I know and it sucks. I have rotten strawberries after 2 days, bananas get ripe so fast, other berries and grapes this year sour or sweet never in between.
Costco isn't always the best choice. Produce is definitely one of those items I am weary of buying from there. If it's not something I can use in a few days I do not buy. Saving money per unit just to have half the bag go bad wipes the savings.
I e bought the big bag of potatoes twice. Both times the smell of rot was overwhelming within 2 days. Never again. Cheaper to pay grocery store prices and handpick 4-5 good ones at a time.
Costco orange story time: I bought them for my pet raccoons and they HARDCORE REJECTED them.
About 2 days later a string chemical smell in the house I couldn’t find and I flipped the bag and they were molded like that. They smelled like melting plastic
Tl;DR Costco oranges are horrible, they don’t taste very good and have a chemical smell when they start molding. My raccoons actually scoff at them
Climate change: increased humidity affects the chance for spoilage. Couple humidity with the ever-evolving definition of ‘organic certified,’ and you’re looking at a lot of eat-right-away produce.
Organic certification recently changed to requiring natural ripening processes. So a lot of the non-harmful synthetic chemicals (mainly fruit hormones) that are used to preserve freshness can’t be used anymore.
So you’re buying a double-whammy of potentially rotting fruities when you buy organic nowadays.
As a current employee of Costco, I would never buy fruit from there. I’ve seen members over the years go to bathroom and walk out w/o washing their hands and then head over and touch the fruit.
Oregon Costco shopper here, as far as supermarkets here go, Costco has the most consistently good produce. I am surprised to see so many people sharing bad produce experiences.
Mass produced, mostly bad. I rarely buy fruits from Costco for this very reason. Their grapes are sour, avocados are bad, bananas are sometimes good. Apples are okay. Probably because the fruits have no kirkland mark.
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There was probably a bad orange or two in that bag when you bought it. Regardless you really should be taking the produce out of the bags and washing the exterior, then immediately refrigerating. I say this with years of experience in selling produce.
The vinegar wash method is legit
Yea people need to understand that as soon as the fruit is picked it starts to die and rot and you have to take steps to prevent it. Like if I cut off your hand how good do you think it will look 2 weeks later lol.
I'll have you know that my hand would look immaculate, perfectly ripe, and ready to be peeled and eaten.
*nom “mmmh handburger” 🤤
This deserves more upvotes
lol thanks! 😃 tbh though I probably would say it deserves less upvotes for the lame pun. 🤣🥲
You must be a hand model like David Duchovny’s character in Zoolander
But why male models?
Paw paw fruit.
Fruit ripens then rots, vegetables just rot from picking.
Climacteric fruit do. Non-climacteric fruit (which includes all citrus) do not ripen off the tree, the only change they go through once picked is decay.
This guy fruits
Yeah but of ALL stores. Costco fruit is either already bad in the store or goes bad the absolute fastest of any other store out there. I could buy fruit off the back of a truck in the desert that’s been there for 3 months and it’ll last longer than costcos fruit.
Except for the Costco bananas. They’re always green and will stay green for what seems like eternity.
This is why I started to try to look at the dates and digging to find a newer date to get an edge. Ugh. Also been buying fruit and veg in smaller quantities at Aldi.
How do I keep my onions from going bad so quickly?
Onions need to be in a cool (not cold) dark place, ideally not touching one another. It depends on the type of onion how long they should last though. Edit: keep in mind that all bulb onions have been cured for 2-6 weeks before they even get shipped out to the store.
It’s only weird if the bulbs touch.
Produce likes it’s personal space lol.
No Touching!
I mean. I get it. But that example escalated so fast lol.
Kirkland wine went to my head
What if I wash the hand in vinegar after it is cut off?
I like you. 🤣
>Like if I cut off your hand how good do you think it will look 2 weeks later lol Is anyone realistically saying it lasts forever?
As I am undead, my hand would be fine.
If it's pickled it'd be pretty good.
Could you tell me what you mean by the vinegar method? I could google it but I’d rather dbrwhat it 🤔
Rinse your produce in diluted vinegar it will stay fresher for longer. I've done and leafy greens stay crispier for longer. It kills the bacteria on it which just rinsing does not.
Interesting. So you get the produce home, rinse it in the vinegar, dry it and put it in the fridge ? I’ll try that. Only with fruit with skin or like berries too?
You have to soak it not rinse, sorry had to clear that up, for about 10- 15 in 1:4 vinegar:water mix
About 1/4 cup white vinegar and a quart or so of water Molds can't do well in a slightly acid environment.
We do it with everything. Then goes into air tight containers. Can get even Costco organic to last a while that way
Yup
Vinegar kills mold spores, not prevent natural rot. It looks like the bag had a couple of old oranges in it. Vinegar doesn't slow aging.
Good to know, I learned you should wait until just before eating to wash produce. Guess I learned wrong.
If you aren’t using a vinegar wash, that is correct. For example, if you wash strawberries in just water, they will rot faster.
Yes to this! You’ve gotta inspect the fruit to make sure no signs that one is bad. And for sure you must prep them once home! My Costco shop day is also my fruit and veg prep day. I wash everything, dry everything (if still damp, use some paper towels in the storage system), store in prepped containers so they’re ready to go. One big fruit and veg shop per week lasts me the week til my next Costco run. I buy the produce there regularly and love it.
I didn't realize I should refrigerate oranges! Thanks!
oranges are a fruit that doesn't ripen after picked, so theres really no down side to putting them in the fridge right after you get home.
I do that with most produce like strawberries, grapes, kiwi, apples etc but not oranges, bananas necessarily. I thought can keep oranges at room temperature but guess not.
you shouldn't refrigerate kiwis right away, they ripen like bananas at room temp. so you should only refrigerate those after they are ripened. oranges dont ripen, so theres no downside to refrigerate them right away.
Oranges just taste better when cold as oppose to room temp, they don't go bad in fridge so no real down side and yeah I do believe they last longer too
My wife, who is very knowledgeable about produce in general, insists oranges get sweeter after refrigerating them for a while. But she doesn't like to eat them cold, so she takes them out for a while first.
Agreed
“One bad apple”
I actually stopped buying "fresh fruit" from Costco and only use their frozen stuff. Their non-frozen fruit is either not good or spoils way too fast.
100% correct
Can confirm. I work at Costco
This is 100 percent true
I had mold on my lemmons 2x. Have to be more careful.
You just answered your own question, they don't keep fresh produce on the shelves. They're notorious for bad produce. I can think of maybe one occasion where I got a good pack of strawberries. Also with the berries, the vinegar wash method works great for extending their life.
If you've only had one good pack of strawberries from Costco, then you just suck at buying produce there. This applies to any grocery store, but you have to look at what you're buying. Sometimes, you want to make a strawberry tart, but if you go to the store and all the strawberries there look like Mike Tyson went 10 rounds with them, then you don't buy them. Most of the time, the produce is pretty good, though.
I stopped buying Driscoll's strawberries years ago. Look perfect on the outside and a solid mass of white pith a micron inside.
You need to smell strawberries. Yes, I’m a fruit sniffer and I’ll die on this hill. Easiest way to gauge quality.
I do this too. If you can’t smell it, you won’t be able to taste it.
1000% this!
Agreed. You always have to look at the produce. Also anytime I'm buying something I'm looking at the packaged on date and trying to grab the most recent one.
They usually have good strawberries (and sometimes grapes), but these bagged oranges are especially bad. I had to stop buying them. They look fine at first, but then spoil after 2 days. I even take them all out of the bag and wash the surface when I get them home. Now I buy a similarly sized bag of navel oranges at my grocery store and have never had this happen.
Agreed, if you just grab a random pack (especially the top crappy one no one is picking) you’re bound to have this happen. I search every bag I buy to get the good stuff. I’ve consistently had good luck with berries, mangos, tomatoes, avocados, onions, asparagus, Brussels sprouts and potatoes. But I know how to pick!
Checked the oranges by kinda moving around oranges in the bag to make sure there is no hidden spoilt one. I make sure to check the produce when buying to make sure I am not bringing already rotten produce home
Ignore these people. Costco produce is always questionable, going bad, or straight up bad. I will buy meat and dairy and sealed items, but the produce section is the worst part about Costco. Never again.
Some ppl on this post are calling me names being rude saying I dint check the produce so I deserve it lol and some are saying how can I buy produce that looks like this. Seriously! Ppl think I bought the oranges looking like this hahah
Gotta rip the cardboard and grab from the bottom. Probably frowned upon, but I've gotten burned too many times. It'd be fine if they'd accept a picture for a return, but they do not. If I open a bag of broccoli and it's rancid, I'm not keeping that bag around for a week so I can return it. And I'm not driving across town for $8.
Yes I need to stop buying produce from Costco. I have this habit of trying to get as much as I can from Costco, I have to break this habit lol and get fresh produce from somewhere else. Lesson learned
I stopped fresh produce years ago. High prices and low quality mostly. Not worth the risk.
It depends where you live. In California much produce is locally sourced.
I'm talking about getting it from Costco.
It took me a few times to give up on their produce lol Honestly in my experience Safeway tends to have the best produce
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It's wholly related to distribution center proximity and or demographic, I'm convinced. I've always had great produce at Costco but have been in areas that are on the good side of both those variables
We used to be on the "good side" of the supply chain and the produce was decent. Now I'm on the far end of the supply chain and the produce is poor quality. It's a death spiral ... no one buys, shelf time increases, produce gets worse ... fewer buy. So I buy from a regional chain that has high turnover and fresh produce.
almost exclusively buy my fruit there, except bananas. idk what it is with their bananas but they last like 3 days
No matter what I do with Costco bananas, they end up mottled lime green and dirt brown. Sometimes it takes a day or two, sometimes a week, but the only universal constant is that there is no edible, yellow stage in there. As others have noted, of course this will vary greatly by location, but anecdotal evidence on here really paints a damning picture of this particular item.
Yep Costco bananas are the worst. They just go from green to brown. Never even remotely yellow
I'm thoroughly convinced that there is refrigeration somewhere in their banana supply chain that screws them up.
Correct. At the very least the produce truck is refrigerated when it’s being delivered.
My hypothesis is that they get too cold and this kills the banana which is why they never get ripe
Same. I'm in Canada though so I don't know if thats a difference. Produce is so much cheaper at Costco. We get mushrooms, berries, apples, oranges, and cucumbers there. I have almost always gotten a good bag. I am in Vancouver and things like Apple's I know should be only grown a couple hours away in the Okanagan.
Other side of Canada, Toronto. Ya the produce is amazing, lasting me like 2 weeks. Been like this for past decade.
Same here
Same! I go out of my way for Costco produce but I have kids and fruit never lasts long.
Same thank goodness!! I just snacked on~10 lychees and squeezed homemade lemonade lol, all fruit from there
Your costco carries lychee!? Where is this blessed costco located.
We have awful produce at our Costco. I won’t buy any produce except blueberries.
It's gotten bad over the last few years. Quality had significantly dropped to the point that we're not buying veg or fruit at costco anymore.
It is horrible. In the last month I have returned peaches, watermelon, and strawberries. I am no longer buying fruit from there.
Yup learned my lesson too lol
I hate these oranges in particular. We eat them so fast but even so, more than half went bad. Our strawberries actually lasted much longer which is wild
Right! Some shitheads are going around saying its not Costco’s fault but my fault for picking these oranges without checking lol. I did check them and they still went bad. My fault is not eating them fast enough like you did
Costco fruits and veggies are awful. They are practically at the end of their lifespan by the time you purchase. I have maybe 2 days tops before they turn to mold messes. Sad too because some of the bulk veggies I really want to buy. Only the Brussels and broccoli last. Also you'd be better off asking who HASN'T had a poor experience with Costco produce.
It also depends on the time of year and where you live. If the fruits you are buying are not in season where you live, then pay attention to where they are coming from because sometimes it involves a long shipping process when reduces the lifespan of the produce by the time you go to buy it.
Had to scroll pretty far down to see this comment. Should be at the top.
Every time.
I'm here in the SF Bay and never had issues like this.
You live in California, where most of the produce that Costco sells is grown. Much shorter supply chain to get to your store. Not rocket science.
I'm aware of that. Also our climate is pretty dry here. I'm just saying it's not every Costco that this happens at.
I'm near Toronto Canada and our produce last two weeks. From washing in vinegar, to paper towel on top of spinach or spring mix, they will last if you take the necessary steps. Also I always purchase lots with dates pushed out.
I’ve been shopping at Costco for 20+ years Their produce has never been good It sucks because I feel like they generate a ton of food waste as a result
Costco produce is hit or miss. I always scan the product carefully looking for rot. It's amazing how much there is. They must have a lot of waste or hope people are not that diligent.
I pretty much never buy produce from Costco because it always molds or rots within 5 days. It's hard to clear a Costco size of anything in 5 days ~~except for the cookies, that's very easy~~
I work in Costco produce. Typically we get new products every day, however due to low staffing it’s almost impossible to keep up with the proper rotation of product. Old stuff stays out way too long. Check your dates and only buy stuff that’s been packed the week you buy it. Also don’t buy grapes, we usually get them a month to two months after they have been packaged.
Thank you for sharing this! I’ll keep your suggestion in mind
Produce consistently goes bad from costco no matter how good it looks in store, especially the strawberries. You'll have to eat it within the next couple of days to avoid any rot.
We don't buy their produce it always goes bad. We kept the bagels in the fridge, and that did the trick with them from molding in days.
I don't buy it anymore. Just throwing money away.
I think you may have bought Costco bagels on accident.
Hahahaha
I love Costco but steer clear of all of their produce. Pretty poor quality
I've worked at 4 different Costco's in multiple states. The produce has sucked at all of them. Seriously go somewhere else for it, sure you will pay a bit more but it's worth it for the step up in quality. Costco needs to switch suppliers or at least stop buying in the biggest bulk possible. By the time you get to the bottom of the bin the stuff is terrible.
Thank you for sharing this. Yes, moving plan is to buy handpicked from somewhere else
Do you have a warm kitchen? Edit: asking because a bag of oranges in a warm environment will result in mold no matter where you bought it.
Not particularly warm kitchen per se but I understand your point
Yeah… I have learned my lesson.
Same this just happened to me lol
I never buy produce from them.
Check the packed on date of anything you buy, watch out for bruising or condensation. Inconsistent temperatures cause condensation= contributes to mold and rotting.
If the apples and oranges are from US they're out of season and gonna turn faster rn.
Idk but it’s trash every time I go
I don't return fruit. Fruit's a gamble. I know that going in.
I made a post complaining about Costco oranges being too dry a bit ago. Some jerk acted like I was just trying to get attention. I have also gotten moldy oranges from Costco, but not at such a rate that I felt a need to make a complaint about it. I think I have that problem with oranges no matter where I get them. Sadly, the quality of oranges, everywhere, seems to be very low. I don't know why. People will just stop buying oranges eventually. The fruit industry in general seems to be killing itself off slowly with bad produce. People give up with it.
Wasn’t there a disease going around killing all the Florida oranges?
The citrus greening disease. It's caused by a bacteria and it has devastated Florida's citrus growers.
By the time you get around to using the produce you're too late, or you won't finish all of the bulk produce by the time it goes bad. I just go to the normal grocery store for produce now.
Your Costco is nourishing a vibrant culture
I usually have a problem with the onions. Every bag I buy has one or two bad onions and you can't tell till you cut it open.
Produce clerk here, not at Costco btw, and there’s a lot of supply chain issues still. This is an example of it.
All of their produce is horrific!
Its really been bad everywhere with produce to be fair.
Idk, but I’ve stopped buying their bagels, even though I like them. You have to buy a dozen of them and they get moldy within three days. No way I’m eating 4 bagels a day.
I bought the same oranges and left them with a bowl of assorted fruits. One moldy orange contaminated everything. So annoying.
I think it might be that the heavy bags of fruit get tossed about by customers looking for what they think is best, or sometimes by employees organizing bags and being too rough. The fruit on the bottom gets bruised by the weight of the top ones. The Costco I go to usually has great produce that lasts a long time, but occasionally there's something that is either not so fresh, or has been mishandled. I've seen customers digging through produce like it was trash or something.
As a rule, I never buy Costco fruit. I only buy vine ripe tomatoes and some of their salads. The sweet fruit is always wrong. I have never been happy with the purchase.
Same thing happened to my wife on Thursday. Checked out, went to leave, then noticed the giant mold orange at the bottom. Didn't have time to exchange so thankfully they easily returned them.
I already threw these. I’ll show them the pictures of the rotten oranges and try to get refund. Lets see what they do
If those are Sunkist oranges, their recent crop was absolute shit and Costco. Those oranges were shit when they were shipped to Costco
Yes these are Sunkist
I go out of my way to not buy my produce from Costco. I have a few local markets that have local grown produce. That and I don’t need an abundance of produce going bad on me every week… so I only get what my house will eat in a week.
That sucks. Always have to eat Costco produce within a day or two. It really pisses me off when I buy a bunch of berries and they're already moldyand rotting the next day. Unfortunately I don't have time to take them back to Costco... maybe Costco figures people won't bother so they don't care.
Their produce has been crap for a while now.
You gotta be careful. I'm no agricultural biologist, but this stuff spreads from one fruit to the next. So when you buy these bags, you have to check that none have this stuff. And if you see one fruit in the bag has it days later, toss the infected fruit out and rinse the rest.
Thank you! Yes, I agree. Threw it out after posting it
The answer is: you're not supposed to buy perishables at a store like that.
It’s always sucked
Just at Costco and near the oranges and could smell mold. .... produce at Costco is not worth it.
Costco produce has been TRASH lately
Costco produce is trash!
Just got home with corn on the cob and they are bad. Bananas ripen too fast. Avocados are hit and miss
I had the same problem with a bag of onions recently.
Question: could it be due to using Lessing chemicals to preserve? I buy a bag of apples and oranges from Kroger and they last for W E E K S. Like it’s not natural. Fruit should rot and spoil quickly (maybe not as quickly as we’d like). Just a thought, not sure!
You have a lot of things in play. Bad product. Inattentive stockers and forklift drivers not checking dates and product. Customers/members not checking their bag before they leave the area. 13yr veteran employee of Costco who has done stocking and forklift driving for most of those years. I’m the current forklift driver at my store for produce. I’m the only one who tags the procure in steel to make sure it gets dropped in rotation proper. Not by received date but pack date or sell by date. When I went on vacation for two weeks the D&D (damage and destroy) went up like crazy. When I returned it went down.
When your older your learn to appreciate the importance of fresh produce.
the peak of ripeness
Rinse your Costco produce (really anyone’s produce) and dry as soon as you get them home. I’ve had no issues with the oranges and lemons since I started doing it.
Idk we live in utter luxury these days compared to people in history, complaining about a company getting everything perfect isnt being realistic (just kidding they probably need to check how old these are before keeping it on shelf)
Surprising. Costco produce is always good when I get it.
Unless you’re willing to do a vinegar wash, my rule is Costco fruit & vegetables rarely last beyond the day after you purchase them. If I need fruit to last longer, I buy elsewhere. I’m not sure why Costco fruits go bad so quickly as compared to fruits from Sam’s for example.
I learned a long time ago from working at a bulk grocery store to not buy bulk produce.
Happens every time. I only buy root vegetables and bananas in the produce section.
this is my only gripe. the produce is always terrible.
The only produce I buy at Costco is romaine lettuce, celery and brussel sprouts. Everything else turns too fast for me.
I hate those bags that change the color of the oranges.
all terrible. but hey at least the stock keeps going higher (along with the prices )
Seriously they are always restocking. So much stock and pricey too but not good quality
i don’t buy any produce at all from costco anymore. it’s either already spoiled or about to spoil. even the sweet potatoes spoil quickly
Costco oranges suck I always buy individual or from someone selling off the road
Thats my plan now, buy individual or from some local market
It’s not even the mold growing on them they just don’t taste as good in my experience. Less sweet than picking them out myself.
Fruit is the one thing I rarely buy from Costco. It either never tastes quite ripe like it was picked super early or goes bad far too quickly. The cotton candy grapes and peaches have been good. The berries and kiwi not good.
My Costco always has issues with their strawberries, specifically. Last summer, they had to get rid of the entire stock from them being stored improperly. And their bags of peeled garlic, good lord! I noticed the rotten garlic smell like a month ago and it’s become overpowering now.
I don't buy strawberries at Costco, but at my two local stores, Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park, CA, the raspberries are awful; it's not uncommon to buy them and end up dumping half the tray. I think Costco buys in such large volumes and then stores them too long that by the time they get to the sales floor, their shelf life is about 30 minutes!
I think it's because it sits around much longer than it would at a grocery store. Our rule of thumb with Costco fruits and veggies is to only buy them if we're going to use them within the next 3 days.
I had the same exact thing happen to me. 4 oranges bad after about 1 week
Costco produce always is on the verge of molding. Especially the tomatoes. You have to turn the tomato carton over and search for the web of fuzz developing.
I have bought the bags of organic green beans for years. Suddenly, they changed the brand and they were so bitter I had to chuck the whole bag. Not saving any money buying those!
You should be able to return those for a refund.
When you buy produce, take it out of the bag and wash it immediately when you get home. Any bacteria or mold on the fruit will spread much quicker when it's kept in the bag like that.
ALWAYS have to check and wash the bags of lemons or this WILL happen. Almost without fail. Got me in the habit quick after losing a chunk of lemons from a couple bags, more than once.
I don’t buy their bag of onions anymore. Always gets the same mold/fungus
I know and it sucks. I have rotten strawberries after 2 days, bananas get ripe so fast, other berries and grapes this year sour or sweet never in between.
Costco isn't always the best choice. Produce is definitely one of those items I am weary of buying from there. If it's not something I can use in a few days I do not buy. Saving money per unit just to have half the bag go bad wipes the savings.
I e bought the big bag of potatoes twice. Both times the smell of rot was overwhelming within 2 days. Never again. Cheaper to pay grocery store prices and handpick 4-5 good ones at a time.
Totally agree! Thats what I am going to do handpick produce. Enough of bulk rotten stuff
Bought a bag of plums. Most were rotted.
Oh no! Its not even cheap, pricey rotten stuff
I usually have bad experiences with Costco produce
Costco orange story time: I bought them for my pet raccoons and they HARDCORE REJECTED them. About 2 days later a string chemical smell in the house I couldn’t find and I flipped the bag and they were molded like that. They smelled like melting plastic Tl;DR Costco oranges are horrible, they don’t taste very good and have a chemical smell when they start molding. My raccoons actually scoff at them
Climate change: increased humidity affects the chance for spoilage. Couple humidity with the ever-evolving definition of ‘organic certified,’ and you’re looking at a lot of eat-right-away produce. Organic certification recently changed to requiring natural ripening processes. So a lot of the non-harmful synthetic chemicals (mainly fruit hormones) that are used to preserve freshness can’t be used anymore. So you’re buying a double-whammy of potentially rotting fruities when you buy organic nowadays.
As a current employee of Costco, I would never buy fruit from there. I’ve seen members over the years go to bathroom and walk out w/o washing their hands and then head over and touch the fruit.
Damn thanks for sharing that! This is what I needed to hear to finally stop buying produce from Costco 🥴
I inspected the hell out of it and haven't had any problems that way.
Costco produce has always sucked. It’s the one area they lack in.
Oregon Costco shopper here, as far as supermarkets here go, Costco has the most consistently good produce. I am surprised to see so many people sharing bad produce experiences.
Mass produced, mostly bad. I rarely buy fruits from Costco for this very reason. Their grapes are sour, avocados are bad, bananas are sometimes good. Apples are okay. Probably because the fruits have no kirkland mark.
Costco produce is fine. It’s the Aldi’s that’s bad comparatively speaking.