The Costco Connection is published by Costco Wholesale. All
editorial material, including editorial comments, opinion and statements of fact appearing in this publication, represents the views of
the respective authors and does not necessarily carry the endorsement of Costco Wholesale or its officers. Information in The Costco
Connection is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but
the accuracy of all information cannot be guaranteed. The publication
of any advertisements is not to be construed as an endorsement of
the product or service offered unless it is specifically stated in the
ad that there is such approval or endorsement. Products advertised
may not be available at all locations at the time of publication.
Publishing offices are located at 999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, WA 98027.
Copyright © 2014 Costco Wholesale.
®
PUBLISHER Ginnie Roeglin
groeglin@costco.com
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Tim Talevich 425-313-6759 ttalevich@costco.com
DEPUTY EDITOR, U.S.
T. Foster Jones 425-313-6748 Tod. Jones@costco.com
DEPUTY EDITOR, INTERNATIONAL
Stephanie E. Ponder 425-427-7134
sponder@costco.com
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Lorelle Gilpin, Ottawa 613-221-2009 Lorelle.Gilpin@costco.com
Sue Knowles, London 011-44-1923-213113 sknowles@costco.co.uk
Sylvia Youngsun Yoo, Seoul 82-2-2630-2606 sylviayoo@costcokr.com
Nora Wang, Taipei 886-2-8791-9988-216
norawang@costco.com.tw
ONLINE EDITOR
David Wight David. Wight@costco.com
REPORTERS
Will Fifield wfifield@costco.com
Steve Fisher Steve. Fisher@costco.com
Hana Medina hanamedina@costco.com
COPY EDITOR
Miriam Bulmer
CONTRIBUTORS
Rhonda Abrams, Laura Amann, Jennifer Babisak, Molly Blake,
Ranka Burzan, Claudia M. Caruana, Teri Cettina, Jorge Cruise,
Charles Duhigg, Bob Ecker, Chrystle Fiedler, Marcy Goldman,
Peter Greenberg, Christa Melnyk Hines, Susan Hirshorn,
Amanda Horowitz, David Horowitz, Judi Ketteler, Star Lawrence,
Erik J. Martin, Linda Melone, Brad Meltzer, Sarah Miller,
Sherrie Newman, Suze Orman, Angela Pirisi, Bryan Reesman,
Marc Saltzman, Alice Shapin, Kirsti Sharratt,
Carole Spiers, Irene Middleman Thomas
ART DIRECTOR Doris Winters dwinters@costco.com
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Lory Williams lwilliams@costco.com
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Ken Broman, Bill Carlson, Susan Detlor, Steven Lait,
Chris Rusnak, David Schneider, Brenda Shecter
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Pam Sather
psather@costco.com
ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER
Antolin Matsuda amatsuda@costco.com
COLOR SPECIALIST
MaryAnne Robbers mrobbers@costco.com
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Jane Klein Shucklin 425-313-8277 jshucklin@costco.com
ASSISTAN T ADVERTISING MANAGER
Kathi Tipper-Holgersen 425-313-6581 ktipper@costco.com
ADVERTISING COORDINATORS
Melanie Woods 425-313-2558 mwoods@costco.com
Jordan Maughan 425-313-6969 jmaughan@costco.com
ADVERTISING COPYWRITER
Bill Urlevich
NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES
West: John Iavarone 415-264-6757
iavarone.john@gmail.com
Texas/Northeast: Frank Colonno 201-962-2759
fcmediapartners@optonline.net
Midwest: Harold Leddy 847-446-8764
harold@leddyandassociates.com
Marshall Leddy 763-416-1980
marshall@leddyandassociates.com
BUSINESS MANAGER
Janet Burgess
CIRCULATION MANAGER
Rossie Cruz 425-313-6715 rcruz@costco.com
CIRCULATION / EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Dorothy Strakele 425-313-6899 connection@costco.com
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
D. Ted Harris 425-313-2937 dtharris@costco.com
COSTCO WHOLESALE
P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-1088
999 Lake Drive, Issaquah, Washington 98027
Fax: 425-313-6718
Email:
connection@costco.com
from the publisher’s desk
Ginnie Roeglin
A NEW YEAR, a new you? It’s easy to get started on
healthy new habits after the overindulgence of the holiday
season. Unfortunately, many of our good intentions go by
the wayside by February. We hope you’ll find some great
advice and inspiration in this issue to keep you motivated
and on track all year long.
No doubt the No. 1 resolution is to lose weight.
Eighty percent of the weight battle is what we consume.
Food Network star Robert Irvine offers tips to improve
your entire family’s diet with fast and easy dinner recipes
on page 40. Jorge Cruise, Costco member, and frequent
guest of Dr. Oz, gives tips for weight loss for women
over 40 on page 49. His latest book, Happy Hormones, Slim Belly, is available now in
our warehouses.
Vitamins and supplements can also improve your health, but the choices can be overwhelming. Our pharmacy team and suppliers help clear up the confusion on page 47 and
in the Kirkland Signature™ Vitamin & Supplement Guide in the center of this issue.
Twenty percent of the battle to lose weight and improve health is exercise. If you
received exercise equipment for Christmas or are considering purchasing some for a
home gym, you’ll find tips on setting one up on page 66. Treadmills seem to turn into
clothes hangers, so we’ve also included tips on keeping yourself motivated. My personal
tip is to buy some colorful, cute workout clothes—namely, our Kirkland Signature active
wear. It is so comfortable that sometimes I even sleep in it, so I have no excuse to skip my
workout. I am already dressed! You’ll find a complete selection of exercise equipment,
such as treadmills, Bosu balls, workout DVDs and much more, at Costco this month.
Be sure to also see our special section on furniture in this issue, offering great tips
on adding beautiful new elements to your home at excellent prices.
To your health and to your home, from all of us at Costco! C
Ginnie Roeglin is Senior Vice
President, E-Commerce and
Publishing, and Publisher of
The Costco Connection.
; FRONTend
from the editor’s desk
Tim Talevich
WHEN THE FIRST COSTCO opened in Seattle, in 1983,
the only “fresh” food in the warehouse wasn’t really that
fresh at all: a small selection of frozen meat and packaged
lunch meats, included almost as an afterthought. In fact,
fresh food wasn’t part of the new company’s plans, given
the complexities and challenges of the industry.
But after trying a bakery, a meat department and a deli
a few years later at another location, Costco became a
fresh-food seller. Today, you can see (and smell and taste)
how big this program has become, from the fine foods that
are processed in-house to the hundreds of food products
on the shelves from around the world. If you’re like me, most trips to Costco include a
food purchase, which is why food safety is such an important issue in our everyday lives.
Our cover story this issue looks at what it takes to keep food as safe as possible, from
farm to table. We focus on the roles of three important players: the U.S. Department of
Our Q&A with the USDA shows that the agency has made progress in several key
areas. It was successful in getting additional strains of E. coli declared as adulterants,
opening the way to new avenues of enforcement. It also is working with companies on
best practices to make poultry safer. On the other hand, its proposal to expand a poultry
test program, which would add testing for bacteria along with the standard visual inspec-
tions, has been blocked—despite positive results and overwhelming recommendations
from the past two administrators and staff.
It’s unfortunate that people still occasionally get sick from tainted food in our country. The best recourse for consumers is to be cautious of potential dangers and follow four
easy steps recommended by the USDA in our story: clean (hands and surfaces), separate
(foods, to avoid cross-contamination), cook (to proper internal temperatures) and chill
(promptly). And here’s our rule at home: When in doubt, throw it out. C
Tim Talevich is Editorial
Director of The Costco
Connection.
