Customer mortified by disgusting green slime in Coles chicken

A Coles customer has been left mortified after discovering a disgusting green slime in the fresh chicken breasts they purchased from a Coles supermarket at the weekend.

Jamie Ferguson took to the public Coles Facebook page with a gruesome photograph of her purchase of RSPCA approved chicken from Northcote Place in Victoria’s inner north. Although within its use-by date, it’s clear there’s something not quite right about the poultry. A thick green substance can be seen oozing out of the breast in the photograph Ferguson shared.

“Upon cooking dinner tonight, we opened a packet of 4 chicken breasts to separate,” she explained in a Facebook post. “We added 1 to a tray of roast veggies we were in the process of cooking, and bagged the rest to freeze. On the last one, this is what we see. Absolutely disgusting!”

The disgruntled customer added she had to throw out her dinner, before asking the supermarket what they were going to do about the situation.

“This is disease and poison in our home,” Ferguson continued. “What do you plan on doing about this? We could have gotten so sick had we not seen this before eating tonight’s dinner!!! Outraged. We will not be buying from Coles after this.”

The post quickly went viral, gaining 830 comments and quickly being shared across social media. A member of Coles’ social media team even replied and said despite the shocking appearance of the chicken breast, it was actually safe to eat.

“We’re sorry to hear of your disappointment with our Chicken Breast Fillets and we can see that this looks like deep pectoral myopathy (DPM),” the reply read. “Our National Quality Team have advised that this is a green discoloration of the flesh than can make it anywhere from bright lime green to a deep khaki colour. This is caused by a degenerative disease in the chicken’s muscles when swelling occurs as a result of oxygen deficiency.”

Coles explained the process actually occurs when the chicken is still alive, usually because the bird had been flapping its wings too much. Still, they said the DPM was safe for human consumption.

“This happens while the chicken is still alive, usually from the bird flapping its wings too much. It isn’t harmful to eat and the taste of the chicken would not be altered,” Coles continued. “However, we understand if you have concerns with consuming the product and in line with our 100% satisfaction guarantee, you’re welcome to return to any of our stores with your receipt or packaging for a full refund or replacement.”

Meanwhile, a Coles Spokesperson told Starts at 60 the customer was entitled to a full refund. 

“The quality of our products is very important to us. Deep pectoral myopathy (DPM) is a green discolouration of the flesh caused when swelling occurs as a result of oxygen deficiency in the muscle. This usually happens from the bird flapping its wings too much,” the spokesperson said, mirroring the message left to the customer on social media.

“It is not harmful to eat and the taste of the chicken would not be altered. We encourage customers to return any item that they’re not 100% happy with, to their nearest store for a full refund or replacement.”

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The latest news comes after the supermarket giant was forced to pull its popular Mini Classic ice-creams from shelves last month after fears they were contaminated with metal fragments.

What do you think? Would you eat this chicken? Do you think Coles’ response was acceptable?