Smoked salmon supplier Bleiker's Smokehouse has collapsed into administration and is subject to a fraud investigation by the National Food Crime Unit.
All 86 staff at the Leeming Bar business, which was founded in 1993, were made redundant as no buyer could be found.
Administrators at FRP said the loss of a major contract - understood to be with discount supermarket Aldi - had prompted the collapse and now officials at the National Food Crime Unit say they are investigating a number of alleged issues to do with country of origin claims on some Bleiker's products.
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Gavan Wafer, head of investigation at the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) said: “Our investigation into Bleiker's Smokehouse Ltd is related to a number of alleged issues including concerns about their country of origin claims on some of their smoked salmon products. The NFCU has acted on intelligence it received and which has resulted in one arrest being made.
“It is vitally important that we ensure food is safe and what it says it is and that consumers and food businesses are confident in the authenticity of food they are buying. We would like to take the opportunity to thank North Yorkshire Police for assisting in the investigation and supporting this operation.”
Bleiker's latest set of accounts show the firm had seen a drop in turnover from £20.5m in the 15 months to the end of April 2020 to £14.09m in the 12 months to the end of April 2021, when operating profit was £373,159. During the year the firm received £96,378 of grant support through the Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Martyn Pullin, partner at FRP and Joint Administrator, said: “Bleiker’s was a family operation with a track record of supporting both major and independent retailers. The loss of a significant contract left the business in a difficult financial position. Regrettably, the insolvency has meant that the business is no longer able to continue trading and redundancies have been made.
“We are on site and will work closely with impacted staff to help them access the support they need in making applications to the Redundancy Payments Office.
“We are now focused on exploring options to sell the business and its assets and encourage any interested parties to come forward.”
