Almost 300 staff have been axed at Russell Hume after the meat supplier collapsed into administration.

The move comes after production was halted and products were recalled when the Food Standards Agency (FSA) launched a food hygiene investigation in January.

Last week, ITV News revealed allegations that the company was buying meat from Botswana in order to sell it as 'British'. Their breaches were so wide that there was a mass recall of the meat in January.

Pubs giant Wetherspoon was among the companies to pull its contract with Russell Hume after temporarily taking sirloin, rump and gammon steak off the menu following a "mislabelling issue".

Administrators KPMG said 266 staff had been made redundant from a workforce of 302.

Six jobs from the firm's site in Inverkeithing, Fife, were among the redundancies.

Chris Pole, KPMG joint administrator, said: "The recent product recall and halt in operations has caused significant customer attrition and trading difficulties, which in turn has led the directors to take the decision to place the company into administration.

"Regrettably, with little prospect of production restarting on site, a total of 266 people have been made redundant.

"Our priority over the coming days will be to work with all affected employees to provide the assistance they need in claiming monies owed from the Redundancy Payments Office.

"We will also be seeking buyers for the business and its assets. Any interested parties are advised to contact us as soon as possible."