2016 Costco Thread

[quote=“nonredneck”][quote=“backpacker24”]
On another note, they’ve doubled the price of sour cream!!! :fume: :fume: :fume:
[/quote]

Maybe they figured out there is a small segment of foreigners in Taipei that will pay whatever they charge for it. Or it could be the Taiwan Dollar going down driving the cost of imported goods up.[/quote]

Most probably the expiration day is two or three months, not 2 or 3 days.

Taiwan Costco’s website has some PDF documents that look like ads–probably ads from the past. In one or more of these documents, I’ve seen mention of what appears to be a Danish brand of blue cheese.

In those documents, I haven’t seen a clear mention of sausage imported from Germany (bearing in mind that I’m perfectly capable of overlooking things, even obvious things), but I saw mention of a U.S. brand of smoked bratwurst (with the caveat that according to Wikipedia, one of that company’s other products–“Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Grillers”–was recalled in the U.S. because consumers reported finding metal fragments in them–apparently no injuries were reported, though).

Of course I realize that the mere mention of these products in PDF documents on the Taiwan Costco site–especially when the documents are probably not current–is not a definite indication that the products are currently being stocked in the Costco stores, and that even if they are being stocked in one or more Costco stores, they may not necessarily be stocked in the Costco store that Ibis2k12’s co-worker is going to.

I just thought I’d post that information on the off chance it can be of some help. If it doesn’t seem helpful, please feel free to ignore it, and my apologies for wasting your time.

Scuttlebutt on Food for foreigners is that Costco has -FINALLY!!!- opened on line order system and delivery. Can anyone confirm/add linkies?

costco.com.tw/

looks so!

Is there any word about the Guandu branch that was supposed to open a month or two back?

Just checking it out, it doesn’t seem to have the full range of products (for the food items I looked for at least) and there are 2-item minimum orders.

They claim that 30% of what they offer online is not available in the stores…exclusively sold online

That sounds cool! I’ll have to study their online catalog with my wife.

Only accepts Costco Credit card for payment. No ATM or other payments. Not very foreigner friendly.

“The site is currently only acceptable Cathay United COSTCO co-branded cards for online payment, you can not use the Internet ATM.”

Hello Kitty makeup for example?

Pesticide residues found in 73% of fruits, vegetables
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/01/22/2003637796

[quote]Green beans from Costco contained a fungicide residue 69 times higher than the legal limit, which stood out as the most serious violation among products with excessive residue levels, including oranges, green peppers, lettuce and passion fruits from A. Mart, spoon cabbages and arden lettuce from Carrefour, lemons from Pxmart, as well as grapes, lemons and Chinese cabbages from RT-Mart.

Costco was singled out as the worst performing retailer in terms of transparency, while FamilyMart and 7-Eleven passed the tests[/quote]

Perhaps Costco is not as safe a choice as I once believed.

Question: what is the origin of the produce? Local or imported? Both?
Funny how 711 is the best performer… things that make you go mmm…

[quote=“Icon”]Question: what is the origin of the produce? Local or imported? Both?
Funny how 711 is the best performer… things that make you go mmm…[/quote]

You seem to be implying that 7-11 funded the study… :slight_smile:

[quote=“nonredneck”][quote=“Icon”]Question: what is the origin of the produce? Local or imported? Both?
Funny how 711 is the best performer… things that make you go mmm…[/quote]

You seem to be implying that 7-11 funded the study… :slight_smile:[/quote]

711 only using organics? Color me skeptic but anyways, I do wonder about US produce, to be honest.

However, Costco was getting stuff from Chile and Canada, unlikely places for such heavy concentrations of pesticides. But what do I know?

[quote=“Icon”][quote=“nonredneck”][quote=“Icon”]Question: what is the origin of the produce? Local or imported? Both?
Funny how 711 is the best performer… things that make you go mmm…[/quote]

You seem to be implying that 7-11 funded the study… :slight_smile:[/quote]

711 only using organics? Color me skeptic but anyways, I do wonder about US produce, to be honest.

However, Costco was getting stuff from Chile and Canada, unlikely places for such heavy concentrations of pesticides. But what do I know?[/quote]

Costco does sell some taiwanese produce as well. I’ve generally avoided buying it and just buy the imports. I would imagine the local produce has more pesticides than the imported stuff.

The truth is imported may have just as many pesticides and worse ones. They’ve gotten around a lot by just not putting it on the label.

What produce does 7-11 sell so much of? Apples and oranges, yet another Taiwanese company versus evil foreign company deal.

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I used to have a customs officer as a student a while back. He told me that basically all imported produce gets a massive dose of some chemical fumigation. He says they must do it in order to protect the local environment for potential invasive species. So wash, wash, wash your veggies and fruit.

Personally I don’t see what the problem is. I always find it laughable when anyone in Taiwan talks about safety standards.

There’s a set of Glass Lock at Costco, which has several 1L sized containers. The price is cheaper than getting them elsewhere. I’m thinking about getting them for storing kibbles.

Not transparent ones. Must be opaque -light degrades kibble- and yes, airtight -vacuum best, but nearly impossible to get here.

Mine go through a 2kg bag in one week, no need for much worries…