Against a backdrop of a very competitive marketplace and over-capacity within the UK meat sector, VION has been conducting an extensive review of its UK operations. VION plans to focus resources to create 'centres of excellence' that will be better placed to meet the demands from the market and optimise production efficiencies.

The company is proposing to close its Abattoir, Butchery and some elements of its Retail operations at its Haverhill site and to transfer these operations to VION Malton. At the same time, VION is proposing to transfer all cooked meats operations currently based at its Malton site to the Haverhill operation. This will allow the Haverhill business to focus on the production and processing of cooked meats, and the Malton plant to focus on the production of fresh pork and bacon.

As a consequence of this review and the proposed changes, there is the possibility of redundancies at both plants.

Commenting on this announcement, Alasdair Cox, Director of Corporate Affairs said, "Due to increasingly competitive pressures from the marketplace, we must continually look to optimising our production facilities to ensure sound foundations for the development of our UK business. In creating dedicated facilities at Malton and Haverhill, we will also be investing in both plants to build the business.

"We regret the need for these changes in our activities announced today and have informed our employees and their Union representatives of our commitment to consult with them. The commitment from the teams at Haverhill and Malton has never been in question," he added.