There was bad news for some 900 employees at the Kerry Foods plant in Burton-on-Trent as the company confirmed that it is to shut down the factory.
The announcement which has been described as a blow comes after the company failed to renegotiate a contract with Tesco to supply ready meals in the UK.
Management at the factory say the closure will affect almost all of its employees.
They added that an emergency meeting will take place on Friday to redundancy packages for their employees.