This Costco Kirkland Meat's Cooking Instructions Are Concerning Customers

There are two camps of convenience food cooks: meticulous chefs who follow the instructions to a tee and haphazard hash slingers who dump everything into the oven at a standard 400 degrees Fahrenheit, cross their fingers, and hope nothing burns. The problem? Those cooking instructions are developed by manufacturers with food safety, flavor, and texture in mind, so you shouldn't ignore them if you want the best results. That said, there's one set of instructions on a package of Costco's Kirkland smoked pork back ribs that are concerning customers because it advises oven-roasting the meat while it's still inside the plastic.

The cooking instructions on the back of the vacuum-packed product read "Keep product in packaging and place on an oven-safe tray. Heat in package for 60-70 minutes or until heated through." Once cooked, the ribs can be removed from the packaging, broiled, and glazed with barbecue sauce if desired.

On a Reddit thread discussing the ribs and the recommended cooking method, one shopper said, "I dont care what they say, im not cooking food in plastic." However, a second commenter followed up and said, "I spent a decade working directly in the plastics manufacturing sector. It's 200 [degrees Fahrenheit]. This isn't what's putting microplastics in you, and is largely safe. If you sous vide, this is the same basic idea. The melting point of just about every kind of plastics is well over 200 [degrees Fahrenheit]."

Food-safe plastics are hermetically sealed, leak-resistant, and perfectly safe to go straight in the oven from the fridge (cooking food inside the bag helps to retain flavors and maximize moisture and tenderness too). However, one commenter posted an image of the melted packaging after cooking, explaining that "I cooked these ribs at 200 [degrees Fahrenheit] on convection and the plastic melted at 65 minutes. I would think convection would not make a difference, but this was a total disaster. I would strongly warn against following the directions."

Meanwhile, one shopper on a different Reddit post said, "I didn't read the reheating instructions. I cut them in half and threw them in the air fryer for 7 minutes at 400 until they were sizzling. The smokiness is really nice, a little salty, but all in all I would absolutely buy this again." Others recommended cutting off a portion of the ribs and microwaving them — seeing as they are already fully cooked — or taking them out of the bag, wrapping them in a foil packet and baking.

Of course, you could avoid all this confusion by making the best ribs ever at home, which will allow you to select the perfect cut, choose your marinade, and cook using your preferred method, from slow roasting to grilling. This recipe for succulent pork ribs features soy sauce and sumiso sauce, which give the meat a Japanese flavor, but you could just as easily smother it in a homemade barbecue sauce for a Texan vibe.