THIS gives new meaning to the phrase ‘Dirty Bird’. Disgusting pics of a chicken bought from Coles are turning stomachs on social media.

Reddit user Oscilllator posted the pics last night. “PSA: This chicken I bought yesterday from Coles appears to have gangrene,” they wrote.

The images show a packet of Coles chicken breast fillets on a chopping board, with a section of the breast cut away to reveal a large, pus-green protrusion underneath the skin.

“There’s no freshness like Coles freshness!” joked rcsgd.

“Send it to KFC, they will gladly use it in their nuggets,” added FrenchWenchOnaBench.

One user said the large yellow lump appeared to be a cyst. “Used to work in a high turnover butcher, we would get multiple breasts in affected by this every day,” wrote ConemanTheBongbarian.

“The one pictured is nowhere near the worst I’ve seen. Sometimes the entire tenderloin is affected. It’s a defect in the chicken itself and should have be sorted out at the factory, but obviously with the volumes being dealt with not all defects will be sorted out.

“Just cut it out, the rest of it is fine to eat. Also bodies of lamb/beef would have cysts fairly regularly. One of the other blokes ran a body of lamb through the bandsaw and hit a cyst, got puss sprayed all over his face.”

Another suggested it was due to a section of the muscle dying due to lack of blood supply. “It’s called deep pectoral myopathy,” wrote wunty.

“It occurs when chickens that have been selected to have unnaturally large breast muscles flap their wings. The breast cuts off the blood supply to the tenderloin and it dies inside the live bird. The poultry industry’s solution for DPM is to prevent the birds from flapping their wings.”

User Pict said the more they find out about the meat industry, “the more I feel as though ethical veganism is the way to live”.

The original purchaser said they would probably notify the store. “I don’t have the receipt, but I think if I show them the picture they won’t have a problem believing me,” they wrote.

“And although I didn’t show it in the picture, the chicken breast was also falling apart — it was clearly not a healthy chicken.”

A Coles spokeswoman said in a statement: “The quality of our products is very important to us. This looks like deep pectoral myopathy (DPM) which is a green discoloration 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. 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 per cent happy with, to their nearest store for a full refund or replacement.”