Tesco apologises after customers complain of 'gone off' turkey

The supermarket has pledged to investigate
The supermarket has pledged to investigate

Retail giant Tesco has apologised after customers complained that "rotten" turkeys ruined their Christmas dinner.

Angry customers sent online messages to Tesco claiming turkeys they had bought were not safe to eat and had made people sick.

Some people said they had to order takeaways after discovering that the meat tasted of bleach and had "gone off". The supermarket has pledged to investigate.

People complained on Facebook and Twitter on Christmas Day about the poultry. Carl Barber, from Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, wrote: “This was bought only a few days ago and it’s out of date. 23 quid wasted now have no Xmas turkey for Xmas day. Any customer services available today??”

The Christmas birds cost up to £59 in the store's Finest range.

Kirsten Shore, from Stafford, wrote on Facebook: "I was very excited and worked super hard to make and prepare Christmas dinner for my family for the first time ever!

"But thanks to Tesco I served them a rotten, rancid turkey that was inedible.

"Not only that, the gravy was made from the turkey so that resulted in everyone's meal ending up in the bin! Thanks Tesco!"

'Ruined my meal'

Posting on Christmas morning, Sharon Coward, from London, tweeted: “Opened my Turkey up this morning and it absolutely stinks. Stored correctly this end. To say I’m upset, is an understatement! Ruined my planned family meal.”

A Tesco spokesperson said the store would conduct an investigation to establish why the birds were rotten.

He said: “We’ve sold hundreds of thousands of great quality British turkeys this Christmas. We have exceptionally high standards so we will look to address the small number of complaints in recent days. We will get in touch with each customer so we can investigate how these instances may have happened.”

In the lead up to Christmas, farmers took to social media to get the British public to buy turkey directly from a farm.

The NFU hosted the dedicated turkey social media day on Friday 1 December. #BuyMyTurkey was the official hashtag.

Farmers were urged to post pictures of themselves, of their farm and turkeys, to tell the public why buying British, and local, is a must during the Christmas period.