Off meat from supermarket!

[Kales29]

Anyone else had this problem? I live in the middle of nowhere and generally get my shopping delivered each week with Tesco with little to no problems usually.

This week I had sausages delivered that were 3 days out of date but this was obviously a picker error more than anything.

But 3 times recently I've had off chicken, when going to open the pack a day or two after delivery and still within date. The smell has made me vomit each time. It's their own brand standard whole chickens.

It's out me off buying them now and I've given up. The smell has put me off chicken tbf. I've never had an off chicken until recently. Could it be a supplier issue?

The first time I just put it down to bad luck and binned it. Because it's happened since I've had to contact them for a refund as spending money on off food to be binned isn't ideal.

Before anyone mentions it, I would love to by everything from the local butcher but money is tight and I tend to get everything delivered due to living remote and two disabled children.

I would just like to know has anyone else had the same issues with meat recently?

Would you complain? I've got refunds but they just seem to be quick to give out refunds without addressing an obvious problem.

I had it a few months ago - bought a chicken from Sainsburys, well within the use-by date and when I opened it I just thought "ugh". Needless to say I didn't bother cooking it and it went in the bin.

I sometimes wonder if things get left outside for too long when it's warm.

Quality is well down I've found. It's all to do with these shortages and delivery problems so they are trying to stretch it out.

I had exactly the same a few weeks ago. A Tesco whole chicken. The smell was vile. Could have puked.

I get the feeling that supermarkets think we should be grateful enough to be able to buy anything right now and the quality of meat, cheese and fruit and veg has gone right down

The odd time but rarely, even through lockdown.
Check your fridge temp to rule that out just in case.

Co-op the first time I binned it and assumed it was my fridge (it wasn't) second time I returned it for a fresh one then I stopped buying them as the smell from the chiller cabinet was awful

Thanks all. My fridge is fine - I have checked. Nothing else seems to be a issue, just the chickens 🤢 I guess there is problems with shortages at the minute. I've emailed them again on Facebook and they are going to inform the supplier of issues. I have never had bad meat until the last month or two without any supermarket!

With not without *

Every fucking chicken I get delivered from Tesco is bad

Ring them up, number will be on your delivery sheet. They will refund.

It seems to be more and more common that meat we have purchased within date is thrown away.

I'm having to put all my meat in the freezer at the moment and defrost on day of use as its been going off well before use by date.

I've said to DH to only buy chicken the day he wants to eat it for this reason, with thighs etc even if there's several days left on the best before it seems to go off within a day or so, ew.

Thanks all. I've never known anything like the smell today to be honest! Worst thing is it's not bin day until next Friday now so going to be in my wheelie bin (with multiple bags around it) until then 😪😪

People order rotting corpses and are surprised when they receive rotting corpses? OK then.

If you freeze off meat (well labeled) it means it's not making your wheelie bin unbearable. Just chuck it in on bin day.

I reckon they've changed the use by dates across the board. Quiche has particularly vile I've found, even well within date.

@Lavender24

People order rotting corpses and are surprised when they receive rotting corpses? OK then.

Personally I prefer a fresh corpses, they taste better.

We ordered chicken thigh portions as part of our normal Asda shop and got the delivery on Tuesday. Got the chicken out to cook on Thursday (use by date was Today) and the stench of the meat made me vomit it was so bad. It's happened a few times over the last few months. We assumed it was because of the change in packaging - they now come in a plastic bag type wrapper rather than the box with sealed film over the top - but perhaps it's a general quality issue with poultry at the moment.

Obviously the chicken portions went in the bin and after 20 minutes outside to stop me feeling so sick I was able to rustle something else up for dinner. I'm just glad we hadn't eaten them on Tuesday or Wednesday as they'd have probably been off enough to make us ill but might not have had such a horrible smell. It was no issue getting a refund from Asda but it's frustrating.

I definitely found the standard of meat from Tesco has gone down. Last few packs of chicken breasts have been disgusting. I bought from a local butcher last week. I was surprised at how well priced it was and the chicken was delicious! Oh and the bacon-It didn’t shrink down to a quarter of the rasher size and I had the best bacon sarnie I’d had for years!

@Kales29

Thanks all. I've never known anything like the smell today to be honest! Worst thing is it's not bin day until next Friday now so going to be in my wheelie bin (with multiple bags around it) until then 😪😪

Wrap them and throw them in a public bin, they get emptied everyday here.

Oh yes, this is definitely a thing! It's started happening during the pandemic.

I've had quite a few things that have been well within use by date, and have stank when I've opened them and had to go on in the bin. There is nothing wrong my end. I live 5 mins drive away from the store so it isn't left hanging about. My fridge is a good temperature.

I've also assumed it must be them cutting corners for whatever reason. I've had this with chicken a couple of times since the pandemic and quite often with salmon fillets. I try to buy salmon for the day I'm cooking it and chicken I'll hope that if I use it the next day it'll be ok.

Do you know what I reckon it is? I think it's the Brexit effect. I bet half the staff in meat processing plants were not British and have gone home. Same with veg pickers. Tesco no longer put any best beforeer dates on packaged veg which is annoying cos the only way you're going to tell how fresh it is is by squeezing it which is harder to do through bloody plastic. I do try to buy veg not wrapped in plastic but half the time the loose bloody broccoli is all floppy so I'm suspicious that they just unwrap the wrapped broccoli whiich needs selling and put that out loose.

I think I'll be going back to Aldi. I stopped going there during the pandemic as it's further away but I feel so ripped off by Tesco now for the quality they're offering. At least with Aldi if your broccoli is on the slightly floppy side it's going to cost you way less than Tesco.