JOBS at a food manufacturer in Wrexham are at risk of being lost.

Oscar Mayer, a manufacturer of chilled ready meals and prepared foods, has said 135 employees at its Rowan Foods site on Wrexham Industrial Estate are at risk of redundancy.

However, the company, which also has a site in Flint, is also opening up 101 vacancies in Wrexham. Oscar Mayer said this means if those affected were to apply for the 101 vacancies, the total number of proposed redundancies would be reduced to 34.

Ian Toal, chief executive of Oscar Mayer, which supplies supermarket chains, said: “These proposals are not made lightly, but we believe are necessary to ensure a long-term sustainable future for our business.

“The UK chilled foods sector remains highly competitive. For us to continue to compete and grow we have to take steps to become more efficient so that we can deliver on our strategy to innovate, expand the market and meet the changing demands of consumers and our customers.

“We don’t underestimate the impact of this announcement on our much-valued, hard-working team in Wrexham and will provide them with all the support we can, including offering alternative roles at our Wrexham and Flint sites, should these plans proceed as currently proposed.”