Last updated at 09:42 02 November 2004

Premier Foods today warned there could be panic buying of its family favourite Branston Pickle after a fire at its Suffolk factory.

The group said it anticipated possible "significant short-term customer demand" for Branston and other products made at its Bury St Edmunds plant after last week's blaze.

This could result in current stocks at Bury St Edmunds, which are enough to cover about two weeks of sales, being sold through much quicker than normal, Premier said.

However, the company said it expected partially

to restart production of Branston within three weeks and would move gradually back to full production of all its products, which include Haywards Pickles, Loyd Grossman sauces and the Waistline range, during December and January.

It was also in talks with other manufacturers about covering production of certain products until Bury St Edmunds was fully up and running again, it said. Production by those manufacturers is expected to start this month.

The company said it was confident of being able to fulfil demand for its products during the key Christmas period.

"People won't have to go out and desperately buy Branston for Christmas," a spokeswoman said.