Supermarket’s ‘diseased factory-farmed chicken’ with enlarged heart made woman sick as she carved it

Warning graphic images ‘Heaven knows how diseased this bird was: I doubt I will ever eat chicken again’

A bird in an intensive farm that's lame because it has been bred to grow so fast its legs cannot support its weight (RSPCA)

A Sainsbury’s supermarket customer was physically sick after discovering a “grotesquely enlarged” heart in the chicken she was eating.

Sharon, who asked for her surname to be withheld, estimates the organ was at least 15 times larger than most.

She said she believes the bird was diseased before it entered the food chain.

It was so repulsive that she has vowed not to eat chicken again and complained to Sainsbury’s chief executive.

The supermarket agreed the heart looked “unusually enlarged” and said it would investigate.

After cooking the chicken, as she transferred it to a plate she told The Independent that she “smelled something unpleasant and the carcass fell apart, revealing a massive chicken heart – almost the size of an egg.”

She said: “I was horrified. When taking the photos, I then noticed the enlarged veins and quickly realised it must have been a very ill chicken while alive. I put my face to the carcass as thought it had a bad odour. It did. I had to rush to the bathroom to be sick.

“I am a big chicken eater and have bought extra-large turkeys in the past but have never seen a chicken heart so large. Heaven knows how diseased this bird was.

“I doubt I will ever eat chicken again. It was horrendous.”

The 59-year-old believes the bird came from a factory farm, where chicken breeds that grow unnaturally quickly are used, putting on weight faster than their bodies can cope with.

Birds often suffer broken legs and organs become diseased, according to campaigners against factory farming.

Sharon said she did not seek compensation other than a refund from Sainsbury’s.

Sharon said the heart was about 15 times larger than it should be

“I have multiple health problems including a low immune system," she said. "I was really lucky I escaped with a bit of sickness, but other poorly people especially the young and elderly may not have got off so lightly.”

She criticised supermarkets for selling low-welfare meat en masse.

“I don’t think our supermarkets are doing anywhere near enough on the impact of factory farming. Nor are they making free-range meat affordable for the majority. I cannot ever imagine buying a factory farmed chicken again,” she said, adding that Sainsbury’s “could at least show it cares about animal welfare by reducing the cost of free-range foods”.

The RSPCA has condemned supermarkets’ practice of placing higher welfare chickens on less prominent shelves so that buyers choose factory-farmed.

Sainsbury’s apologised to Sharon, offered a refund and told her: “I can see by the pictures you took that the chicken did not look very appetising and the heart seemed unusually large.”

A spokesperson said: “We have apologised to the customer and can reassure her our chickens are reared to strict welfare standards. We have controls in place to prevent unpleasant finds like this and we’re investigating what went wrong in this case.”