Northern Ireland's food processing industry suffered another blow last night when Malton Foods announced it was to close its bacon factory in Co Antrim.

More than 300 workers are employed at the plant in Ahoghill but it was unclear how many would lose their jobs in the June shutdown.

The company said a "significant number" of skilled posts could be transferred to its plant at Cookstown, Co Tyrone, but admitted a substantial number of jobs would be lost.

At the same time, the company announced it was bringing forward to next week from April the already announced closure of its operation in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, with the loss of 200 jobs.

Mr Max Hilliard, managing director of Yorkshire-based Malton Foods, said: "We regret having to take this decision to rationalise our operations and overheads but it has been forced on us. We need to realign processing capacities with the declining UK pig herd to reflect the lower volumes available."

He said the last 20 months had seen a deepening crisis in the pig industry. "In an oversupplied European market, the problems of the farmers have been exacerbated by the strength of sterling, new animal feed regulations and the stall and tether legislation which is unique to the UK."

Mr Hilliard hit out at the British government for its lack of action.

"The failure of the government to provide a level playing field to enable UK pig farmers to compete effectively with their Continental counterparts has resulted in large numbers of pig farmers going out of business or leaving the industry."

He said the firm was committed to maintaining its slaughter and cutting operations at Cookstown, and insisted last night's announcement would not affect pig farmers. He said the demand for their supplies would not decrease.

Local MP the Rev Ian Paisley said: "This is a devastating blow to the local economy and spells out a major change in the size and form of pig production in the country."