More than 500 people manufacture dairy products at the Eden Vale plant at Minsterley, which Northern Foods has sold to Uniq for £16m.

The move follows the Northern Foods' sale of its Telford-based Emile Tissot subsidiary last week.

The Minsterley factory made an operating loss of nearly £4m during the last financial year.

Northern Foods director Sean Christie said the poor results were caused by a reduction in turnover that followed the sale of the Ski and Munch Bunch brands to Nestlé two years ago.

The factory currently employs 520 people producing dairy desserts, yoghurt, fromage frais and cottage cheese, which are sold mostly under the Marks & Spencer and Asda brands.

The new owner Uniq employs about 3,500 people in the UK at 10 sites and owns the brand-names Buxted and Smedleys.