THE future of 1,400 jobs and more than five million turkeys hangs in the balance after the collapse of the UK's biggest turkey supplier.

Brandons, which employs 350 staff at a processing plant in Dalton, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, has been placed in the hands of administrative receivers, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, after a flood of foreign imports caused the price of its products to slump.

As well as the Dalton plant, Brandons employs 200 at its head office in Scropton, Derbyshire, and 650 staff in Abergavenny, South Wales.

The remaining 150 staff work at turkey farms in Yorkshire and South Wales.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is working to ensure the continued supply of feed to the turkeys, while looking for a buyer for the business.

Brandons, which supplies a number of high street supermarkets, has achieved much of its growth through acquisitions, including a deal to buy the Abergavenny plant from Sun Valley.

That led to the company being named as one of the UK's fastest growing companies last year after annual profits grew 81 per cent to £3.5m in 2001. That compares to a figure of £592,000 in 1998.

But the expansion was followed by a period of increased competition as cheaper imports, including from Brazil and Eastern Europe, forced down prices.

Brandons, which has an annual turnover of about £100m, was described by joint administrative receiver Rob Hunt as a company with a "strong reputation and an excellent customer base".

He said the immediate priority was to ensure the turkeys are looked after: "We are very conscious of the welfare issues.

"At the moment, we need companies to carry on supplying feed."

He said: "We shall be holding urgent talks with suppliers and customers over the course of the next few days to seek their support to allow trading to continue.

"We are confident that with this support we can continue to trade while a purchaser is found.

"We are aware that 1,400 jobs are at stake and we also have five million turkeys to look after."