People left furious as turkeys go rotten just before Christmas dinner

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By Kim Novak

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Some families in the UK had their Christmas Day ruined this year after finding the turkeys they had bought for their dinner had gone moldy - despite still being in date.

Christmas Day can be fraught with emotion at the best of times - from buying presents amid a cost of living crisis to tackling difficult relationships with family.

However, most spend all year looking forward to tucking into their Christmas dinner on December 25 - which is an excuse to go all-out on turkey and all the trimmings.

This year didn't go quite to plan for some though, who found their turkey was rotten before it made it to the oven.

Upon opening their turkeys to find them discolored and smelling terrible, people took to Twitter to complain that their Christmas Day had been ruined.

One shared a photo of the inside and outside of their turkey, writing: "Thanks @marksandspencer for the #rottenturkey," along with a vomiting emoji. 

Another added: "Bought a Turkey less than 5 hours ago from @sainsburys opened it to give a soak overnight and it’s absolutely stinks. I’m so gutted. An complete waste thanks @sainsburys." (sic)

One wrote: "@sainsburys thank you for selling me an indate turkey that is slimey, smells awful and has a green tinge. It’s in the bin now, Merry Christmas," while someone else added: "Ours was the same. When I got it out the fridge, I thought it looked slimy in the packaging…then we got it out and the smell was disgusting - we both gagged, what a nightmare!!"

One family had to have a frozen pizza as a substitute meal after finding their turkey had gone bad, tweeting: "@AsdaServiceTeam Turkey was off so had to have a pizza thank you @Morrisons your my hero #proper supermarket chain." (sic)

Someone else added: "@Tesco bought a Turkey on 20th, dated 26th. Opened it to cook this morning and it’s completely rancid! How do we complain? I don’t want to keep the Turkey in the house as it absolutely stinks!"

The questionable turkeys appear to have been bought in a variety of different UK supermarkets, with many of the retailers offering to refund their customers for the inconvenience.

It is unclear whether the mold had been apparent before the products were bought or may have been down to being transported or stored incorrectly, and the supermarkets have yet to comment publicly besides replying to complainants on Twitter.

While some people had a disappointing Christmas meal, others were simply enjoying all the tweets about rotten turkeys as the ultimate act of schadenfreude.

They joked: "Shaking with excitement for the 'Our Turkey is rotten, [supermarket] has ruined Christmas" tweets," and "Awful if you have discovered that your turkey is rotten, however, I do find it hard to believe that all you have left in the house is *checks notes* crisps and(or) beans on toast..."

Featured image credit: Simon Dack / Alamy