• A man claims his family barbecue was ruined after he allegedly found worms in meat bought from Auckland’s Costco Westgate. 
• Video shared with the Herald shows at least 10 unidentified parasites wiggling on top of lamb cutlets being cooked on a barbecue. 
• The man discarded hundreds of dollars worth of “tainted” meat and said he would never buy meat from Costco again. 

A man says a pre-Christmas barbecue with his extended family was “ruined” after some kind of parasite was allegedly found wriggling in meat bought from Auckland’s Costco Westgate. 

A Costco spokesperson has refused to comment on the incident, saying they don’t believe it should be publicised. 

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Herald he purchased two trays each of lamb cutlets and premium ground beef from the wholesaler on November 25 — and put them straight in his freezer when he returned home. 

On December 1, the man had family gather for an early Christmas barbecue and celebration — but it soon turned sour when he saw something wriggling on the same lamb cutlets he had bought days earlier as they were sizzling on the grill. 

“It was stomach-turning actually,” he said. 

Video shared with the Herald shows about 10 parasites wriggling on top of the lamb, with one person in the background of the video saying they were coming out of the meat. The man initially believed they were maggots, but now thinks it could be some kind of worm. 

Video shared with the Herald shows alleged worms emerging from one lamb cutlet and wriggling on top of the meat. 

He said he was certain nothing he had done with the meat could have caused the incident. 

“I got the two trays of lamb out of the freezer — they had glad wrap over them — and I put them outside on a table under an umbrella to defrost for a couple of hours, so they weren’t even in direct sunlight. 

“They were still really cold when I unwrapped them to cook, too.” 

He said it wasn’t until he was flipping over the lamb cutlets that “a little wriggling” caught his eye and he said, “Oh, god, what is that”. 

All 40-plus lamb cutlets and hundreds of dollars worth of other meat — including sausages, mince patties and more that was on the grill at the time — was thrown in the bin because the man believed the parasites had tainted the barbecue. 

“It was actually disgusting... We didn’t have any meat, just salad.” 

The man contacted Costco the day after the incident over the phone and was told he would receive a refund for the lamb. He claimed the phone operator questioned his complaint, as he had bought 11 trays of meat since the opening of Costco Westgate and never had a problem. 

The customer was forced to throw out hundreds of dollars worth of "tainted" meat after the discovery. 

After pondering on the offer of reimbursement for another day, the man believed, given the circumstances, some form of compensation for the other wasted meat was appropriate — so he emailed Costco the video of the incident and requested further payment. 

In a responding email to the man shared with the Herald, Costco addressed the claims saying they were “very sorry” to hear about the experience. 

“We understand how concerning it must have been to find maggots after cooking it. While the presence of maggots could be caused by a variety of factors, we take matters like this seriously and want to ensure your satisfaction.” 

Costco proceeded to say as a “goodwill gesture”, it would offer a full refund for the two trays of lamb cutlets and ground beef — totalling $226. 

“Once again, we apologise for the inconvenience, and thank you for your understanding,” Costco said in the email. 

The man said in a “very rare” circumstance where a lot of his family were all together, the incident was “horrible and so embarrassing”. 

Costco Wholesale New Zealand opened its first store in Auckland's Westgate in September, 2022. Photo / Michael Craig 

“It’s almost turned me vegetarian because that’s so gross,” he said. 

He believed Costco just wanted to “sweep it under the rug” and that there was no real sympathy or care from the wholesaler about the incident. 

“I see a lot of people in there buying a lot of meat. A lot of lower socioeconomic families who don’t have a lot of money and they go in there because the prices are a lot lower. 

“It’s a great thing for all those people, but then I think with the low price comes low quality perhaps. That’s just what I feel.” 

The man said he had not gone back to the store to collect his refund, but would never buy meat there again. 

“I know that for sure, I don’t trust it.” 

When questioned by the Herald, a Costco spokesperson said the wholesaler did not wish to comment on the incident and didn’t believe it should be publicised. The spokesperson said it was working with the customer to reach the best possible outcome. 

New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said it had not received a complaint about this incident. 

“Obviously, meat for sale should not contain maggots as displayed in the video, and we would like to get to the bottom of the matter,” Arbuckle said. 

“However, we note that freezing meat for five days... would typically kill fly eggs and larvae, including maggots.” 

Arbuckle encouraged the complainant to contact NZFS with details so it could follow up the claims. 

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.