Millions of Americans keep their freezers stocked with convenient frozen meals, and Costco has long been one of the go-to destinations for bulk buying those kinds of ready-to-heat dinners. But a recent recall is giving shoppers a reason to pause before grabbing that bag of frozen fried rice and tossing it in the microwave.
Costco has announced a recall of its Ajinomoto Yakitori Chicken with Japanese-Style Fried Rice after concerns surfaced that some packages may contain fragments of glass. The recall covers every box of that product sold at Costco warehouse locations across the United States between December 3, 2024, and February 20, 2026. That is a significant window of time, and food safety officials are urging anyone who bought the product during that period to stop eating it immediately.
The scope of the recall is broader than just Costco. This situation actually started the week before, when Ajinomoto Foods North America, Inc. voluntarily recalled the same basic product under different labels. That earlier recall included Trader Joe's branded Chicken Fried Rice sold at Trader Joe's locations throughout the United States, as well as the Ajinomoto name-brand version sold at retailers across Canada, including Canadian Costco stores. The U.S. Costco recall followed shortly after, described by the company as being done out of an abundance of caution given what was already happening north of the border.
What triggered all of this was not just a manufacturing suspicion. According to federal officials, the recall was set in motion after the manufacturer received four separate consumer complaints reporting glass found inside the product. The affected meals were produced during a specific production window running from September 8, 2025, through November 17, 2025. Federal food safety agencies have noted that even though no confirmed injuries have been reported at this time, the presence of glass fragments in a food product is treated as a serious hazard. Glass can cause internal injury when swallowed, even in small pieces, and that risk alone is enough to warrant urgent action.
For anyone trying to figure out whether the bag sitting in their freezer right now is part of the recall, there are a few specific things to check. Costco assigned the product number 749182 to this item, which can be used to cross-reference a purchase. More importantly, the recalled products can be identified by the best-by dates printed on the side of the box or directly on the individual bags inside. Any package showing a best-by date between November 8, 2025, and January 12, 2027, falls within the recall. That is a wide range of dates, which reflects just how long the potentially affected product was being manufactured and distributed before complaints started coming in.
Costco's recall notice includes product images that consumers can use to verify whether what they have at home matches the recalled item. The company has made it relatively straightforward for members to take action.
The guidance from both the company and food safety officials is simple and consistent: do not eat the product. Even if a package looks perfectly normal and shows no visible signs of contamination, the risk is not worth taking. Consumers are being told to either throw the product away entirely or return it to any Costco warehouse location for a full refund. Costco has a well-known policy of accepting returns without much friction, and that holds true here. Members can bring the item back to their local warehouse and expect to be made whole without having to jump through hoops.
Anyone with questions about the recall or who wants more information directly from the manufacturer can reach Ajinomoto Foods North America by phone at 1-855-742-5011 or by email at customercare@ajinomotofoods.com. The company initiated this recall voluntarily, which means they were not legally required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service to pull the Costco product from shelves in the United States. The FSIS was not mandating the domestic recall, but Ajinomoto moved forward anyway given the circumstances surrounding the Canadian recall of the same product.
That distinction matters. A voluntary recall driven by a company acting on its own judgment, without a government mandate, reflects a decision to put consumer safety ahead of the costs and logistical headaches that come with pulling product off shelves and processing refunds at scale. Food safety watchdogs routinely conduct effectiveness checks to make sure recalled products are actually being removed and that customers are being notified properly. That oversight process helps ensure recalls like this one do not quietly fade into the background while affected products linger in people's freezers.
The broader context here is worth considering as well. Foreign material contamination, meaning anything that should not be in a food product, is one of the more serious categories of food safety concerns that regulators deal with. Glass ranks among the most dangerous types because of how it interacts with soft tissue in the digestive system. Even a small shard can cause cuts, internal bleeding, or other injuries that may not be immediately obvious. The four consumer complaints that sparked this recall represent the cases where people actually noticed something wrong. There is always the possibility that some contamination went undetected, which is exactly why the recall window covers such a long stretch of time and so many packages.
Costco has earned a reputation over the years for taking recall situations seriously and moving quickly when product safety is in question. This case appears consistent with that track record. The company is not waiting for confirmed injuries before encouraging members to check their freezers and act accordingly.
For anyone who buys frozen meals in bulk, this recall is a timely reminder that checking in on food safety alerts is a practical habit worth keeping. The freezer can be a kind of dead zone when it comes to awareness, with products sitting for weeks or months before anyone thinks to look at them again. A package purchased back in December of 2024 could still be sitting untouched behind other items right now, and without checking, there would be no way to know it was ever part of a recall.
The combination of a long sales window, a wide range of best-by dates, and the seriousness of glass contamination as a hazard makes this one of those situations where it genuinely pays to take a few minutes and check what is in the freezer. If the product is there, the smart move is clear: do not eat it, and either toss it or take it back to Costco for a refund.
