Christmas Day has been ruined for furious shoppers across Britain after discovering their supermarket turkeys were “rotten” and “rancid”.
Customers from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Lidl have taken to social media to share their dismay at finding inedible birds on Christmas morning.
Many reported discovering blackened meat, green discolouration and foul smells when preparing to cook their festive centrepiece.
The issues have left families scrambling to save their Christmas dinners, with some resorting to pizza as a last-minute replacement for their spoiled turkeys.
Shoppers have taken to social media to fume about the state of their turkeys (file pic)
PA/Getty
One angry Sainsbury’s customer shared an image of their £14.36 turkey, meant to serve seven people, which had developed an alarming black section.
“Well done Sainsbury’s Christmas is officially ruined! I’ve just got the turkey out of the fridge and it’s rotten! It smells so bad I can’t believe you could sell this?” they posted on X.
Another shopper who bought a £13.10 turkey crown from Sainsbury’s Sury Basin store in Kingston Upon Thames complained: “Straight home to our fridge. Opening tonight to prep for tomorrow and it has gone off. Did not smell good.”
Tesco customers faced similar disappointments, with one reporting: “Turkey is off!! I guess it’s pizza. Hoping for a no quibble, full refund Boxing Day.”
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Tesco customers faced similar disappointments, with one reporting: “Turkey is off!! I guess it’s pizza. Hoping for a no quibble, full refund Boxing Day.”
Another Tesco shopper was left struggling to cook their turkey after finding no cooking instructions. “Back of pack says refer to front for cooking times..trying to weigh a turkey on small kitchen scales is fun!” they posted.
Lidl also faced criticism after a customer discovered their £17.17 medium turkey crown was “fully RANCID” with green-coloured meat, despite being stored correctly in their fridge since purchase on Friday.
A Birmingham butcher has explained why supermarket turkeys often go bad during the festive period. Ian Gibson of I J Gibson butchers told BirminghamLive that mass-produced turkeys can spoil when they’re packaged too quickly before cooling properly.
“Turkeys that you get from supermarkets are shrink-wrapped in plastic. Sometimes they are packed too quickly and haven’t had a chance to cool down under mass production,” he explained.
He recommends customers remove turkeys from their packaging to allow air circulation, noting that supermarket birds can “turn green and stink the house out.”
A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s told GB News: “We’re contacting a very small number of customers to say how sorry we are that they have received a turkey that doesn’t meet our usual high standards, and we are investigating these cases.”
GB News has reached out to Tesco and Lidl for comment on the Christmas turkey complaints.