The fate of a significant part of this year's UK pea harvest hung in the balance this week after one of the biggest pea processing factories in Britain closed with the loss of 320 jobs, reports the Financial Times.
Peas might still be processed at the facility on a short-term basis, suggested Mick McLoughlin of KPMG, last month appointed joint receiver at food group Albert Fisher, which owns the Kings Lynn factory.
"We have the equipment to do it, and if somebody makes a sensible proposal to us to use it, then we would listen to that," he said.
Suspension of operations at the site on Friday had already sparked concerns about a national shortage of frozen peas - the UK's most popular green vegetable in its most popular form.
With the UK's other processing facilities already at or near capacity, the thousands of tonnes of peas that would have been frozen at the site over the coming weeks may instead be dried and turned into animal feed. Normally it would process 30 per cent of the UK pea crop.