When I was working on the bacon contract years ago, any of the prepacked stuff that had gone out of date was sold off to a reseller in Northallerton who would steam off the Tesco, Asda, etc label and replace it with their own and flog it on to unsuspecting people.
As for supporting local butchers there’s still a supply chain that brings it to them
Ironically I had no problem with rotten turkeys.But what did happen is that firstly I made the mistake of wrongly getting caught up in a panic buying mindset this year more than previously and just took what I could get on the shelf at Waitrose thinking that I couldn’t go far wrong there.In all the rush I didn’t even bother checking the actual weight of the thing thinking that no one could possibly be stupid enough to put what turned out to be a silly small 8 lb turkey on sale.Only checking the actual weight when I went to carve it having gone by the cooking time printed on the label.Whoever wrote the time obviously couldn’t believe the silly weight of the thing either having made it over 4 hours.The result predictably being an over cooked dry tough piece of junk that wasn’t fit for human consumption so it went straight in the bin.Although look on the bright side at least it wasn’t rotten.
However as someone who likes loads of turkey hot and cold at Christmas ( and Easter ) I thought I ain’t going to to be robbed of my Christmas grub.On that note the stories of doom and gloom seem to conveniently forget that all you need to do is wait for the shops to reopen on boxing day and look for another one.Which I did and couldn’t believe my luck when presented with a shelf load of unsold turkeys at M and S.So it was back to the oven with a proper one this time with a 28/12 date on it and which turned out absolutely perfect and with plenty left on it for sandwiches and the cold turkey and gammon feast this evening instead of usually Boxing Day. 
robroy:
There’s a lot to be said for using a reputable local butcher rather than a supermarket when buying any meat I reckon.
And it also seems to taste better tbh.
There is one in our village who starts taking Christmas orders at the end of the summer. Yes he’s more expensive than the supermarkets but the meat that he has is miles better and worth the premium.
So, that’s why everyone’s running around like headless chickens on Facebook? 
My mum always buys two turkeys before Crimbo each year, so if she unwraps one on Crimbo day and it smells slightly off, it gets binned and the other one gets used instead. If both are edible, then an extra helping for new year! 
Slightly off topic, but this thread reminds me of this article from 2010: 
WARNING: Do NOT click on the above URL if you are eating, or have a weak stomach!
It’s about time this forum had a “vomit” smilie!
Radar19:
robroy:
There’s a lot to be said for using a reputable local butcher rather than a supermarket when buying any meat I reckon.
And it also seems to taste better tbh.There is one in our village who starts taking Christmas orders at the end of the summer. Yes he’s more expensive than the supermarkets but the meat that he has is miles better and worth the premium.
+1 for the local butcher.
The one I use us spot on. Everything and I mean everything tastes so much better. But it is more expensive.
Still let’s save a few pennies instead and ingest all the ■■■■■ that comes with supermarket meat.
i delivered stuff for a n.i co that had a bit of a history.
uk stamped meat, delivered to poland,then rejected as unfit.
we brought it back to the same co who then were in the proccess of unwrapping it and relabeling it with a newer sell by date when they got raided by various departments of plod for money laundering,firearms,drugs,and so on.
the meat was all confiscated by the crown and kept in cold storage for over 6 months till they investigated where it came from,then as it wasnt nicked,the had to return it to the original co who immediately repackaged it ,re dated it and sent it back out with a long sell by date after cutting off all the bits that were burnt by being blast frozen for so long.
christ knows how old it was when it got delivered to poland in the 1st place but it was a year or so later that it got delivered into the uk again.
Same every year, nothing to do with fridges being turned off or how they’re stored. With the mass farming of meat and the want for the biggest for your money these things happen, birds have diseases, some are not detectable but once they are slaughtered the infected animal begins to rot, it happens to free range birds too but it’s typically noticed before it gets to customers as they’re not sealed in a plastic bag.
robroy:
There’s a lot to be said for using a reputable local butcher rather than a supermarket when buying any meat I reckon.
And it also seems to taste better tbh.
We’ve recently started using a proper butchers shop and the difference is amazing. We’d forgotten what proper bacon tasted like, with no chemicals for so called smoking and not being pumped full of water. Frying the supermarket stuff was good for a boxer in training… ducking and diving all over the place, trying to avoid the spattering of hot fat/water. We got our Christmas bone in ham from there too; same thing, no water, naturally smoked and great taste. Dearer, but you get what you pay for.
robroy:
There’s a lot to be said for using a reputable local butcher rather than a supermarket when buying any meat I reckon.
And it also seems to taste better tbh.
This. And certainly for big events like Christmas. Anyhow, turkey is overrated, have a proper old fashioned Christmas with a goose
Carryfast:
Ironically I had no problem with rotten turkeys.But what did happen is that firstly I made the…and so on and so forth…time with a 28/12 date on it and which turned out absolutely perfect and with plenty left on it for sandwiches and the cold turkey and gammon feast this evening instead of usually Boxing Day.
Innes in a temperature probe. For a meat eater/cook one of the most useful items you can in
peterm:
robroy:
There’s a lot to be said for using a reputable local butcher rather than a supermarket when buying any meat I reckon.
And it also seems to taste better tbh.We’ve recently started using a proper butchers shop and the difference is amazing. We’d forgotten what proper bacon tasted like, with no chemicals for so called smoking and not being pumped full of water. Frying the supermarket stuff was good for a boxer in training… ducking and diving all over the place, trying to avoid the spattering of hot fat/water. We got our Christmas bone in ham from there too; same thing, no water, naturally smoked and great taste. Dearer, but you get what you pay for.
I now buy all my meat online,real proper sausages and bacon it’s all good,delivered free all properly packaged,its well worth the extra cost.As for overcooked meat I use a wireless meat thermometer again expensive but worth every penny,everything cooked to perfection.
Carryfast:
Ironically I had no problem with rotten turkeys.But what did happen is that firstly I made the mistake of wrongly getting caught up in a panic buying mindset this year more than previously and just took what I could get on the shelf at Waitrose thinking that I couldn’t go far wrong there.In all the rush I didn’t even bother checking the actual weight of the thing thinking that no one could possibly be stupid enough to put what turned out to be a silly small 8 lb turkey on sale.Only checking the actual weight when I went to carve it having gone by the cooking time printed on the label.Whoever wrote the time obviously couldn’t believe the silly weight of the thing either having made it over 4 hours.The result predictably being an over cooked dry tough piece of junk that wasn’t fit for human consumption so it went straight in the bin.Although look on the bright side at least it wasn’t rotten.However as someone who likes loads of turkey hot and cold at Christmas ( and Easter ) I thought I ain’t going to to be robbed of my Christmas grub.On that note the stories of doom and gloom seem to conveniently forget that all you need to do is wait for the shops to reopen on boxing day and look for another one.Which I did and couldn’t believe my luck when presented with a shelf load of unsold turkeys at M and S.So it was back to the oven with a proper one this time with a 28/12 date on it and which turned out absolutely perfect and with plenty left on it for sandwiches and the cold turkey and gammon feast this evening instead of usually Boxing Day.
Ya shudda left it out for the foxes 