Christmas Turkeys have been going bad all over the UK – here's why

Cooking the Christmas turkey is often a bit hit-and-miss – but some supermarket customers didn’t even get that far this year after finding their festive birds were rotting.

Now, a butcher has explained that supermarket turkeys can often go bad because of how long before the big day they are slaughtered.

Some turkeys are killed as long as a month before Christmas Day, with the bird packed into a carbon dioxide pumped bag to stop it going off.

Then, the bird is cooled to a little above freezing – but when the bags are damaged, the turkey can quickly go rancid, according to Tomlinsons Farm Shop in Warwickshire.

The shop wrote on Facebook: “Oxygen will get back in causing the Turkey to rapidly go rancid.

“If you combine this with the fact that all supermarket birds are wet-plucked; they have a much higher water content.

“It leads to the inevitable headlines we see each and every year.

“The only way you can avoid disaster at Christmas and not spin the roulette wheel is by buying a Fresh Christmas Turkey directly from the farm it has been produced at.”

While that may be a step too far for some, supermarket shoppers said they were left disappointed with turkeys bought from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and others.

One person said: “Bought a ‘fresh’ turkey (£53.00!) from the local Tesco superstore a couple of days ago.

“Just unwrapped it to prepare everything for tomorrow and it absolutely stinks. The meat is rotten. So…Christmas dinner? It’ll not be quite as we might have hoped.”

After the customer complained on X/Twitter he said Tesco’s customer service got in touch and offered a gift card as compensation.

Meanwhile, an unhappy Sainsbury’s customer said he ready to prep his turkey on Christmas Eve when he found it “absolutely rotten” four days before its expiry date.

Other customers ran into problems that were unrelated to the turkeys’ sell-by dates.

And another Sainsbury’s shopper said he found the turkey crown and ham joint he’d ordered weeks in advance had been substituted by four ham slices.

Jack Rice called the situation “absolutely appalling” as his hopes for a lavish Christmas spread were dashed.

Sainsbury’s has apologised to both customers and asked them both to get in touch so they can investigate.

Indy100 has approached Tesco for comment.

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