Supermarkets apologise for 'rancid' turkeys

Dozens of Aldi customers contacted the paper to complain of foul smelling fowl, and one family even had to resort to chicken nuggets for their Christmas lunch.

"Well our ‘fresh’ turkey was well rancid," Martin Pearson said.

"So the big Christmas meal is now Chicken Nuggets and all the trimmings!!"

Although the majority of complaints seem to be about slimy and awful smelling turkey crowns from the store, which opened earlier this month, other hungry shoppers came forward to say that their chicken also seemed to have gone off.

"Bought two chickens for our Christmas dinner from Aldi - as I'm not a fan of turkey," another reader told the SNJ.

"We opened them up and nearly passed out due to the smell.

"Absolute joke, Christmas dinner ruined, now got to try and conjure up a Christmas meal."

Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco were also slammed on social media for allegedly selling Brits across the country 'rotten' birds.

Both Aldi and Sainsbury's supermarkets issued apologies.

Disappointed cooks took to social media to complain about 'foul smelling' turkeys

An Aldi spokesperson said: “We are sorry that, in a small number of instances, we did not meet our usual high-quality standards.

"Customers can return any product that they are not satisfied with to their nearest store for a full refund.

Whilst a spokesperson from Sainsbury's said that they would be investigating the cases.

"We apologise to the handful of customers who Christmas orders have not met our usual high standards, and are investigating these cases," the spokesperson said.

However, kind-hearted neighbours took to social media to offer to share their food with those who otherwise had to have gone without their traditional lunch.

Wesley Ellis, one of the people who discovered that their turkey was past it's best on Christmas morning said that he was 'very annoyed' with the supermarket.

Shoppers showed that the birds were well within date despite smelling rotten and putrid. Photo: Wesley Ellis

"Luckily a family member had some spare turkey to share and we had lamb, beef and gammon so were well stocked"" Wesley said.

"But I am very annoyed and I will be going into Aldi when they are next open to get my refund."

Customers who have made it into the Aldi store in Stroud to ask for a refund were impressed by how the team responded to the 'distressing situation'.

"As I had my receipt and stinking turkey, I was immediately offered a full refund," Martin Pearson explained.

"Dan also recognised the distressing situation we’d had as a family.

"I was well impressed with Dan’s professionalism, he did the supermarket proud in the absence of advice from the head office."

• Was your turkey off or have you been into any of the supermarkets to ask for a refund? Let us know in the comments below.