I am a sardine junkie and was about to write an irate post that Costco no longer carries Wild Planet sardines when I read this one-star review from July 2018 at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-revi ... B00NVK1PFKIve ordered cases of these sardines from amazon many times the past several years, but the batch I received yesterday was different from the rest and not in a good way. As other noted below there is something bad going on with this product. I have no choice but to return this order. They dont smell right and they don’t taste right. This case was labeled as being produced in thailand ( used to be vietnam ). Prod date on this batch = ‘17 08 04’. Will go back to buying them at the store. Very disappointed.... So I thought I’d update this review to say, sadly, the same product at my local grocery store is now from thailand too and equally as bad as what i got here. As many others now starting to note here the product made in thailand has no smoke taste and olive oil is like water. They are really tough to choke down
I sent an email to their founder ( bill carvalho ) through their website to give them a heads up that their quality control has gone off the rails, and I actually got a reply today. Mr. Carvalho acknowledged an issue at the Thailand canning facility, and assured me its been corrected. He also noted that several batches went to market before they could be stopped. I’m going to reply and ask him which production dates going forward can be expected to be the quality that I, and others, had become accustomed to. If I get an answer to that question I’ll update this review again. I give him credit for at least replying to me, but I’m still skeptical of the thailand based product..... final update.... so their customer service dept did follow up with me further confirming that something definitely went wrong with a large number of batches out of thailand. They could not provide me with a date that could be considered “safe” from a quality stand point. They did offer to send me free product which is great but if its what ive gotten recently I wouldn’t want it ( they offered an alternative fwiw ).... So I won’t be ordering these or buying locally for a long time. Ive since discovered King Oscar Mediterranean style which are honestly fantastic.
I can attest to the quality of King Oscar sardines--my favorite are the Tiny Tots that I can buy at Walmart. Unfortunately they are more expensive than the Wild Planet.
So far I have been getting by on my previously bought stock but that will go fast given my addiction
Costco still carries the Season brand and I stocked up on their sale last month. But it is boneless/skinless, which is less tasty and less healthy since you do not get the minerals from the bones.