Supermarkets including Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco switched own-label pizza suppliers well before troubled Paramount Foods shut its doors this week, The Grocer understands.

The majority of Paramount’s chilled business has been divided up between Bakkavör and 2 Sisters, one own-label supplier told The Grocer.

Asda said it had not been supplied by Paramount since it went into administration in October and that it had switched some of its frozen lines to the Freiberger-owned Stateside Foods.

Paramount ran into trouble after Morrisons switched the supply of its chilled pizzas from Paramount to Stateside. The move came after Paramount was quietly sold by Dutch meat giant Vion to Arena Ventures in September.

Administrators Duff & Phelps had kept the business running as it looked for potential bidders. However, it emerged this week that talks with a potential buyer had broken down.

Its Salford site closed on Wednesday and the Deeside site followed suit on Friday with the loss of 278 jobs, taking total losses at the company to 451.

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