A family's Christmas was almost ruined when they tasted their dinnertime turkey.

The Whitehead family of Langdon Hills had bought two birds from their traditional festive dinners, one for Christmas Day and one for Boxing Day.

Dad, Richard, said he had bought the turkeys from the Iceland store at Corringham on the Saturday before and although his wife had noticed a slight discolouration on the bottom of the larger bird, they had not thought anymore of it.

"We cooked it, but when we tasted it, it was dreadful - so salty you wouldn't believe it," he said.

"I've tasted kippers that weren't as salty," he said.

Although the second turkey and friends rallying round managed to save the day, Mr Whitehead's problems were not over.

On Thursday, when the shops re-opened, he says he took the bird back to Iceland where he was offered a refund - for the smaller bird only.

He then tried to contact Thurrock Council's environmental health team, but was told that as he had already taken the bird back and complained to the store, there was nothing they could do.

A statement from Iceland said: "We aim to offer value-for-money products without compromising on quality.

"The frozen turkeys we offered this season were sourced from British suppliers we use regularly.

"As with all products, we do occasionally find that customers are not satisfied with their purchase and we treat all such complaints seriously."

It goes on: "Our customers are important to us and we are therefore concerned to hear that Mr Whitehead was not satisfied with the product he purchased.

"Unfortunately Mr Whitehead left our store before we were able to investigate the nature of the problem and did not leave any contact details."

Iceland has invited Mr Whitehead to contact its customer care team to "reach an appropriate resolution.".

A spokeswoman for Thurrock Council explained that its environmental health department could not get involved in seeking compensation. "That is a civil matter," she said.

The spokeswoman added: "The fact that a turkey is salty is not something we can deal with. We can only get involved if it is not fit for consumption."

Officers are going to contact the family and wish to examine the turkey to see if matters should be taken further.

Published Friday December 28, 2001