Families who opened up their turkey to find it had gone off have launched angry attacks on major supermarkets for ruining their Christmas.
Twitter was awash with stomach-churning pictures of rotten birds, with angry customers complaining their Christmas dinner was ruined.
Some Aldi , Waitrose , and Sainsbury's customers also took to Twitter to complain about the stench and appearance of their prospective Christmas lunches.
All the supermarkets were offering refunds to customers affected but it has done little to soothe the disappointment of shoppers trying to prepare for the biggest feast of the year.
Ross Strong tweeted: "Thanks @Tesco you've ruined Christmas."
North Wales Live reported that he posted a picture of the bird which had a 3cm hole in its back surrounded by what appeared to be rotten flesh.
Others posted pictures of slimy fowl, with some describing the smell as rancid.
Gruffydd Thomas from Carmarthen said: "Fresh turkey rancid, foul smelling. Bought from Carmarthen branch.
"Christmas dinner ruined. What you going to do, @Tesco ?"
According to industry website britishturkey.co.uk a turkey will smell very gamey, acrid or of ammonia if it has gone off.
The flesh could also have a greenish tinge and feel quite slimy.
"If in any doubt - don't risk it - bin it," advice on its website reads.
"The flesh should be in good colour and look moist in appearance with no dry flaky patches."
Another Tesco customer told the Mirror how she noticed some of these tell-tale signs despite buying a turkey from Tesco on the evening of December 23 and quickly refrigerating it.
"I went to put prepare it on (Christmas Eve) and it stinks to high heaven," she said.
"It is slimy and stinks rotten. Not great on Christmas Eve night. Says the best before date is the 26th but clearly not."
A Tesco spokesperson said: "The turkey is an important part of many Christmas dinners, so we take great care when selecting and preparing our turkeys.
"We're sorry to hear about this incident and if Beth returns the product to one of our stores we can investigate further."
