Roy Crooney Transport, a haulage company based in Meath, was to present a petition to the court to have Nature's Best wound up over an outstanding debt. Nature's Best founder Paddy Callaghan said the winding up petition would not be heard. "It was settled last week and it shouldn't have gotten as far as it did".

Callaghan said the debt was not a large one and that the "small dispute" had now been resolved. Nature's Best has sales of over 25m and employs more than 200 people at its Drogheda factory. It delivers bagged salads and fruit to most of the major Irish multiples and uses a patented packaging technology, developed in France, which extends the shelf life of perishable items such as fruit and vegetables.

Callaghan, who started the company in 1987, said the company plans to extend its range with the introduction of a selection of chilled salads with organic vegetables.