The Problem With Kirkland's Pink Salt Grinders, According To Reddit

No brand is immune to a design flaw or controversy now and then. Like the time Heinz rolled out the EZ Squirt Ketchup in the early 2000s, which thoroughly confused and disgusted ketchup lovers everywhere. Or when Kirkland Signature's maple syrup infuriated customers due to the poor bottle cap design. Now, it appears Kirkland Signature is in some hot water yet again for another product failure, this time concerning the Kirkland Signature Pink Salt bottles — a mistake that some eagle-eyed Reddit users deemed "appalling."

"Be aware, Kirkland pink salt grinder might [be grinding] up plastic flakes together with the salt," noted one Reddit user, who shared photos of their experience. "Feeling a bit disturbed realizing that we've been eating the salt and [microplastic] flakes in our food in the last months." This comes from one of many Reddit posts from Costco shoppers discovering tiny shards of plastic ground up alongside the salt from those Kirkland Signature bottles with built-in grinders.

Unfortunately, microplastics are so prevalent that we probably eat a credit card's worth of plastic every week. Of course, that doesn't mean customers are happy to physically see it in their food products. Another Reddit user was making saltwater when they noticed "black plastic flaking" coming from Kirkland's ceramic grinder. Talk about a faulty product.

The 13-ounce Kirkland Signature Pink Salt container comes with an included "adjustable ceramic grinder" at the head of the bottle, intended to grind the large crystals of pink salt into smaller, finer flakes. Whether made of actual ceramic or a ceramic-plastic combination, plenty of customers have expressed alarm at seeing tiny bits ground into the classic pink Himalayan salt.

Additionally, customers are worried that other Kirkland Signature products with similar grinding lid designs, such as the Kirkland Signature Black Pepper, might produce the same plastic-grinding effect. One Reddit user pointed out that while grinding the Kirkland Signature Black Pepper, they noticed pieces that didn't look like pepper. "Upon closer inspection, they were fairly large pieces of the black plastic," the user explained.

Salt grinder blades can come in a variety of materials, from stainless steel and wood to plastic and ceramic. Given the plastic and ceramic flakes from the Kirkland Signature Pink Salt bottles, customers have suggested either not purchasing them at all or finishing the bottles at home by throwing away the grinder and grinding the salt chunks by hand, perhaps with a mortar and pestle. Other customers suggest filing formal complaints with both Costco and the proper government authorities, but it doesn't seem that these reports have made an impact quite yet.