Dutch food group Vion has turned down an offer of funding from the Scottish government to avoid the closure of its Hall’s of Broxburn plant and save jobs at the site.

The Scottish government last month set up a taskforce, including representatives of the Hall’s of Broxburn site, union officials, politicians and members of the meat sector to look at the future of the plant, which the firm says is losing GBP79,000 per day (US$125,000).

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A spokesperson for Vion said the company “greatly appreciates” the offer of support and thanked the Scottish government for the “significant assistance” it has provided since the start of the consultation process.

However, the company said that given the scale of the losses and the “complexity and inefficient layout of the factory”, Vion is unable to accept the support.

“It would be wrong to accept the offer of public money knowing it is significantly below the amount required to resolve the core legacy problems at the site and would only serve to delay any potential decision regarding closure,” the spokesperson said.

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“The Broxburn plant is competing against much larger, modern plants across Europe and to establish such a facility on the site would cost in excess of GBP100m and take up to two years of mounting losses to complete.”

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The spokesperson said “structural issues” within the market and “the problematic nature of the outdated facility” means it has not identified a “viable” solution for the site.

Vion announced plans to close the loss-making facility in July, putting 1,700 jobs under threat.

The spokesperson said Vion will continue to work through the remaining three weeks of the consultation process with its employees and their union representatives.

“Our focus now must be on how we can best support our people through the coming weeks.”