Three UK supermarkets have come under fire from shoppers who were left with “rotten” and mouldy turkeys on Christmas Day – despite being within their use-by dates.
Customers at Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Lidl took to social media to share photos and grievances of their ruined poultry, questioning why the Christmas centrepieces had gone off so dramatically despite not expiring until December 27 or 28.
The images showed discoloured turkeys with black spots and mouldy green flesh, with many described as smelling “vile” after being stored in the fridge for between one and three days.
One Sainsbury’s customer said their Christmas had been “ruined” by the unpleasant discovery. They wrote: “Bought this turkey crown yesterday from [the] Sury Basin store in Kingston Upon Thames. Straight home to our fridge. Opening [on Christmas Eve] to prep for tomorrow and it has gone off.”
Another took to X to share a photo of the underwhelming Christmas centrepiece they had bought at Sainsbury’s for £14.36, writing: “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?”
And a Tesco shopper who unknowingly bought a rotten bird from Tesco that was due to expire at the end of the week said he was forced to have pizza for Christmas dinner instead.
“Turkey is off!! I guess it’s pizza,” he wrote. “Hoping for a no quibble, full refund [on] Boxing Day”.
Most of those who took home the “rancid” turkeys only realised they had gone off on Christmas Day, making hunting down a new centrepiece for dinner a near-impossible task.
One Lidl shopper took to Facebook to warn others about the discovery she had made while getting ready to prepare her £17.17 turkey ahead of December 25.
“Just a heads up as I’d hate for anyone [to] open theirs up [on] Christmas morning and there be no shops open selling turkeys,” Nikita Kotulinska wrote.
“I’ve just gone to wash and marinate my turkey ready for Wednesday and it was fully RANCID inside! Smells awful and the meat had turned green!
“Bought fresh from Lidl Woodhouse Lane on Friday, dated December 26 and been stored at the back of my fridge since [I] bought it so there’s absolutely no reason for it to be off.”
A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s apologised to the “very small number of customers” who had taken home “turkeys that [don’t] meet our usual high standards”.
Tesco and Lidl have been contacted for comment.
