A horrified shopper has today described the decaying meat he was faced with when he opened his fridge to cook Sunday lunch.

IPSWICH: A horrified shopper has today described the decaying meat he was faced with when he opened his fridge to cook Sunday lunch.

Anthony Beale, of Wentworth Drive, bought a turkey leg and some beef mince from the new Asda store in Stoke Park.

But the 63-year-old was shocked to discover the meat had gone off despite being opened before the sell-by date just three days later.

He said when he went to open the turkey, two days before the sell-by date, to prepare lunch for some guests he was faced with “slimy meat with a slight bluey tinge to it,” and was hit by the “abhorrent smell.”

The beef mince, which was marked with a sell-by date three days later, was then opened and looked “rancid.”

“It was disgusting, it was obviously rotten,” he said. “It was the first and last time I have been to that store.

“I am an insulin dependant diabetic and so it is very important my fridge is always kept at the right temperature and checked regularly, so it can't have been that.

“I was extremely angry to be honest, then I started to panic, these friends were coming all the way from London and I had nothing else to feed them. I was forced to buy a takeaway which cost me �58.”

Mr Beale contacted the Stoke Park branch and was told to throw the meat away and was then offered a �20 goodwill gift voucher.

He contacted Trading Standards who informed him under the Sales of Goods Act 1979 he is entitled to a refund for the cost of the meat, any loss incurred in this case for the cost of the takeaway as well as a figure to cover loss of enjoyment. Mr Beale has said he would be prepared to accept �260 in compensation.

A spokeswoman for Asda said without the products being returned to them for testing a full investigation cannot take place.

“We're sorry for the inconvenience that was caused to Mr Beale but in order to investigate he needs to bring the product back into store, so we can look into it further,” the spokeswoman said.

“Environmental Health has visited our store and given our products and fridges a clean bill of health.”