A MUM’S dream Christmas meal turned into a nightmare as she unwrapped the family’s turkey.

To Emily Farndon’s horror the turkey she had collected from Tesco’s Newton Abbot store was in a ‘horrible pungent’ state as she started to prepare the Christmas day meal for her fiancé and two children at home.

The Teignmouth mother of three said: ‘I bought it from Newton Abbot Tesco at 1.43pm on Christmas Eve. I always get the meat the day before, simply because it’s fresh, or so I thought.’

Emily took to Twitter to tell everyone: ‘I’m absolutely fuming – thanks so very much for a ruined Christmas day.

‘I removed our turkey crown that I brought yesterday from its wrapper to a horrible pungent smell, the turkey is off so thanks a bunch!’

Afterwards she said: ‘I posted on Teignmouth, Shaldon and Dawlish sites to warn others to check their turkey simply because not everyone has a great sense of smell especially if they have had covid I’m told.

‘The next thing we knew I had offers left right and centre, offering to bring meat to us, but me being me and not wanting to ruin anyone else’s day.

‘I rummaged through the freezer, it just so happens I keep chicken breasts in the freezer for my autistic son as he only eats white meat.

‘We had told him we were having turkey as we let him choose and to change at the last minute not only was I fuming about the turkey I now had a meltdown to deal with – anyway managed to defrost those for lunch.

‘Tesco gave me my money back for the turkey and a £35 voucher, not that it makes up for all the stress and heartbreak it caused us and certainly wouldn’t have covered costs should we have had to get reservations last minute!

‘I normally buy from a local butcher or farmer but I just couldn’t afford it this year, but next year I will be. I will have the meat fund saved up that’s for sure. Alas with all the tears from my nine-year-old over no turkey, me stressed and huffing and puffing I didn’t even take a picture of the kids or ourselves this Christmas.

‘We were in bed by 8pm, it really did have a knock-on effect.’

A spokesman for Tesco said: ‘For many the Christmas turkey is the centrepiece on the table, and we work hard to provide great quality turkeys. This includes having strict animal welfare and traceability requirements.

‘ We are helping customers by providing advice on storage, preparation and cooking their turkey. Guidance can be found on the product label, in store and online.

‘Turkeys bought in-store should be returned in-store, where store managers will handle the returns and refund process. Complaints about turkeys bought online will be handled by our customer service team.’

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