Christmas dinner turned into a nightmare for families across Britain after shoppers discovered their turkeys had gone rotten despite being within their use-by dates.
Multiple major supermarkets, including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Lidl, faced a wave of complaints on Christmas Day as customers opened their festive birds only to be met with foul odours and discoloured meat.
Furious shoppers took to social media to share images of their spoiled purchases, with many claiming their celebrations had been completely destroyed.
Some families said they were left in tears while others were forced to make do without their centrepiece dish.
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Beth Mahoney had risen early on Christmas morning to prepare her festive meal before walking her dog, but her plans were immediately derailed upon unwrapping her Tesco purchase.
The turkey, bought just two days earlier with a sell-by date of December 27, emitted a stench so powerful it nearly caused her to vomit.
"When we opened it, there was a really strong odour and the meat smelled awful," she told Yorkshire Live.
Despite packaging instructions suggesting the smell would dissipate if left to air, the odour persisted.
Shoppers have taken to social media to express their outrage
|PA
In desperation, she attempted to cook the bird anyway, but the result only worsened matters. "It was one of the worst things I had ever smelt - it made me want to be sick," she said.
Complaints flooded in from customers across multiple retailers.
One user, @Westy_26, wrote: "Thanks Tesco. Christmas ruined, opened our turkey to cook it and it's rancid, only bought it Tuesday and has tomorrow's date. Kids are crying, the wife is crying. Nice one."
Another shopper shared an image of greenish turkey meat, captioning it: "Tesco Class A turkey'... hmmm. Rancid!"
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Sainsbury's has been hit with complaints over turkeys and deliveries
| GETTYOne customer discovered mould on their Tesco bird, posting: "Just opened the turkey I ordered & it has MOULD on it & the smell is awful, it's rotten.
"Thank you for ruining Xmas, I don't have a backup, so it's just stuffing & pigs in blankets for us."
Sainsbury's customers reported similar experiences, with one describing a "Christmas morning stench" from their Norwich store purchase.
Beyond rotten meat, delivery failures compounded the misery for many households.
One user said they were left 'very disappointed'
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A Morrisons customer who had ordered their turkey via click and collect in November was turned away empty-handed, claiming staff had mistakenly placed reserved orders on shop shelves.
"Huge amount of upset customers left without their family Xmas dinner," they posted.
Other shoppers reported missing wine, beer and cancelled orders from Tesco and Asda.
A Sainsbury's spokesman said they would contact affected customers "to say how sorry we are for this experience" and were investigating the cause.
Morrisons customers are being turned away
| GETTY IMAGESAn Asda spokesman said it would deliver more than one million Christmas orders across the UK this week and always tries to "make sure every delivery is perfect".
A Morrisons spokesman told The i: "We’re really sorry that this happened; we were in touch with this small number of customers to put it right before Christmas Day."
GB News has approached Tesco for a comment.
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