The Tauranga-based North Island Mussel Processors has been placed in receivership, affecting up to 220 jobs.
The company is owned by Sanford, Sealord and Greenshell New Zealand, and Sanford says Greenshell failed to pay $1.2 million in processing fees and other debts.
Sanford says it and Sealord are working with the receivers, William Black and Andrew Grenfell of McGrathNicol to find out if the mussel processing operations can start once the new Coromandel mussel season starts in mid-October.
North Island Mussel Processors employs 20 full time staff and up to another 200 seasonal workers.
