Tesco faces probe after furious shoppers say their Christmas turkeys were rotten
FURIOUS customers yesterday accused Tesco of ruining Christmas by supplying ‘rancid’ turkeys.
Shoppers across the country vented anger at the store after having to abandon their dinners, and some reported feeling sick after eating the meat.
Last night it emerged Tesco could face an inquiry as the Food Standards Agency pledged to look into the complaints.
Many of the customers had bought supposedly fresh turkey crowns that were within their use-by dates – but in fact the birds had already gone off.
Some families abandoned cooking the turkey and ordered a takeaway instead. Others said they noticed there was something wrong only as they tucked into their meal and found the meat tasted ‘like bleach’.
Some of the affected turkeys were from Tesco’s ‘ Finest’ range and cost up to £59.
A packaging code showed many of the products came from the same meat processing plant near Derby, run by Faccenda Foods.
Dozens of shoppers complained on social media to Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket. There were a smaller number of online gripes directed at other stores.
Tesco said the complaints related to a handful of the hundreds of thousands of turkeys it sold.
But Alison Kendall, of Essex, wrote: ‘Thank you Tesco for the Finest Turkey Crown with a sell-by date of 26/12 that had gone off by the 25th … ruining our Christmas dinner. Imagine my sheer panic … opening the turkey wrap to be hit by that “gone off” smell with 10 people coming to Xmas dinner.’
Amy Willis, of Newbury, Berkshire, also bought a turkey with a use-by date of December 26.
She picked it up on December 23 and put it straight in the fridge, but when she unwrapped it on Christmas morning it had a ‘horrific’ odour. She added: ‘You could smell it from the kitchen door.’
She complained to Tesco via the supermarket’s Facebook page but did not get any response.
Jane Plant, 53, of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, contacted Tesco to say she had discovered a strange smell. She initially accused her husband Michael, 61, of smelly feet – only to find it was the turkey she had bought on December 21.
She said: ‘My husband went to Tesco Express [only] to be told there was nothing they could do about it … thanks Tesco for ruining our family Christmas meal.’
Meanwhile, Kirsten Shore, of Stafford, wrote online that she was preparing her first family Christmas dinner ‘but thanks to Tesco I served them a rotten, rancid turkey that was inedible’.
Carl Barber, of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, posted on Facebook a photo of a turkey he had bought ‘only a few days ago’, writing: ‘It’s out of date. 23 quid wasted.’
Craig Taylor, 35, of Nottingham, sarcastically thanked Tesco for a ‘rotten turkey’. He added: ‘An awful meal and eight sick people!’ A Twitter user in Glasgow had to order a last-minute takeaway. He wrote: ‘What else you gonna do with eight hungry mouths and a rotten turkey? Think I’ll send Tesco the bill.’ He added: ‘I got refunded for my turkey but the whole meal was ruined.’
Jordan Shore, of Manchester, wrote that his Tesco turkey was ‘totally inedible’ with an ‘acid type taste’. Kelly Greaves, of Stoke-onTrent, said her ‘rotten’ turkey ‘smelt/tasted like bleach’, adding: ‘With us making the gravy from the juices, and pouring it all over our vegetables, the whole table of eight went hungry.’
A Tesco spokesman said yesterday: ‘We have exceptionally high standards … We will get in touch with each customer so we can investigate how these instances may have happened.’
A spokesman for Faccenda Foods added: ‘We’ll work with Tesco to get to the bottom of this.’
A Food Standards Agency spokesman said: ‘We are aware of the incidents reported on social media and we are now considering our next steps.’