Smoked salmon brand Bleiker's Smokehouse owed more than £2.8m when it went into administration earlier this year before being acquired, new documents show.
The Leeming Bar-based business has now reportedly been bought by US-based Seriously Fish following a troubled period in which the loss of a major supermarket contract spurred its collapsed and a fraud investigation was launched into the company over concerns about country of origin claims on some of the brand's products.
The National Food Crime Unit confirmed to Business Live that the investigation - which has so far prompted one arrest - is still ongoing. Administrators at FRP confirmed that in late March Bleiker's largest supermarket customer, accounting for 50% of its sales, abruptly pulled its products from the shelves and cancelled orders over doubts about provenance of Bleiker's foods.
