THE man from Del Monte says NO - we are not selling off the company's York factory.

Peter Miller, managing director of Del Monte UK, has visited the plant at Skelton to scotch rumours that it might be sold.

He told the Evening Press he had held a series of meetings with staff at the chilled foods factory earlier this week.

He said that not only was the plant not for sale, but the company was also planning to invest more money in the site - although he declined to reveal the extent of the investment.

Mr Miller's intervention came after the factory, situated just off the A19, was swept by rumours and speculation about a possible sale or even closure. It is understood that workers were increasingly fearful for the future of their jobs at the factory, which employs about 180 people full- time.

The factory, which makes dressed salads for household name supermarkets and other retailers across the UK, was bought in 2003 by Del Monte from administrative receivers KPMG.

The receivers had been called in after the previous owners, Fisher Foods, collapsed in the wake of running up debts amounting to an estimated £100 million.

The management at Fisher Foods had previously hoped to sell the factory at Skelton Park to developers in order to fund a move into a new, bigger 85,000 sq ft factory elsewhere in the region.

But that scheme fell foul of planners because of the perceived traffic that any housing projects might generate on the site, which is outside the village of Skelton and close to the A19.

KPMG said 1,250 jobs across three sites - at York, Wisbech and Methwold in Norfolk, including about 280 in York - had been saved by the sale to Del Monte Produce, one of the world's largest producers of fresh cut fruit and vegetables.

Mr Miller said the number of jobs had fallen since the acquisition of the factory, and it no longer manufactured dips, concentrating purely on dressed salads.

A spokesman for the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, which represents many workers at the factory, confirmed that it had been swept by rumours of a sale, and the rumours had been dismissed by the company.

He added that he had no idea where the speculation had come from.

Updated: 10:19 Wednesday, November 23, 2005