Costco shopper issues warning after reading the fine print on Kirkland's chicken breast: 'It isn't...'

A large number of American consumers rely on retail chains such as Walmart and Costco for their daily nutrition, coming from fresh produce and frozen meat. But in the past few months, things such as the threat of Listeria contamination in frozen meat at Costco and the quality of chicken nuggets at Walmart have shaken their trust. Now, a fitness influencer and TikTok creator called Bella (@fitxbella) has shared a video comparing frozen chicken and fresh chicken sold at Costco, calling the former a scam. She claimed that the seasoned frozen chicken had significantly less protein and a lot of fillers and water. 

In her video, the influencer, who has more than 30,000 followers on TikTok, compared "Sunrise Farms Frozen Chicken Breasts" and "Kirkland Signature Chicken Breasts." Holding up the box of frozen chicken first, Bella said that the product had only 19% protein. "So what's in the other 81%? You’re paying for mostly just water and fillers, which is just extra weight. It isn’t even contributing to your protein goals. If you’re grabbing these you might as well just be buying chicken-flavored ice cubes,” she suggested in her video. 

Coming to Kirkland's fresh chicken, Bella said that it was the product that people should buy. “Fresh, whole, chicken breast. No mystery fillers, no additives, and about 30 grams of protein per 100 grams of cooked chicken," she said, holding up the package. The influencer further claimed that the fresh chicken is better for those trying to lose body fat, and they shouldn't waste their money on low-protein water-injected chicken.

It seems like Bella was right about the protein content in chicken, since according to Healthline, about 100 grams of chicken contains between 24 and 32 grams of protein, depending on the cut. However, simply freezing chicken does not reduce the protein content, as per the USDA. Thus, the creator may as well be right about the fillers and water in the frozen chicken, as the reduced protein content in such products may be a result of adding water, fat, and other components, including residual carbs, to the chicken.

While the creator seemed to be right about her claims, her viewers seemed to disagree. "I disagree. They cook perfectly fine and they still have protein and are cheap," @gabrielbuns2 commented on the creator's video, referring to the frozen chicken product. "I disagree! I’ll only ever buy the frozen," another user, @krissymacgregor, added.

Many also claimed that the fresh chicken sold at Costco was no better. "The fresh ones have water injected as well. I did sous vide the fresh chicken one night and had to dump 6 ounces of water out of the bag. I didn’t even eat the chicken it was so gross," @mikeclayton09 mentioned. "The scam is you don't know how much water is injected into the fresh," @seanalogue claimed.

However, there was a section of viewers who agreed with the creator and thanked her for sharing the information. "This is good to know! I normally buy the frozen but it looks like I’ll be switching over! Thank you!" @bree.roe wrote.

For more updates and videos, follow Bella (@fitxbella)  on TikTok.