AS WORKERS left the Heinz tomato sauce factory in northern Victoria for the last time yesterday, the Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith was cooking up a salvage plan.

He plans to produce his own brand of locally made tomato sauce to help fund a possible buy-back of the closed factory.

Heinz axed 146 jobs in the small country township of Girgaree, near Shepparton, as it moved the production of tomato sauce and ketchup to New Zealand. Last night's shift marked the end of production at the plant.

Chris Lloyd, who worked at the plant for 18 years, said there were some tears shed. ''We've had one person break down … I think there'll be a few more before the day is out.''

Mr Smith said blame for the closure rests squarely with consumers, who aren't prepared to spend an extra 20¢ to buy a bottle of Australian-made sauce.

''If you want the cheapest food, everything will come from China or India,'' he said.

Mr Smith said consumers must be willing to pay a little bit more for a locally produced item, as the price factors in Australian wages and conditions for local workers.

''We have a beautiful tomato sauce from Australian tomatoes, but we can't get the supermarkets to buy it from us because we've said it will be about 20¢ dearer, and they say the Australian public will only buy the cheapest of everything,'' he said. ''If I can get a sale [with supermarkets] for my tomato sauce I will jump in my plane and fly down and talk to them [the Goulburn Valley Food Co-operative] and say: 'How can we make this work?'''

But whether the local co-op or an entrepreneur eventually secures the plant, it's little comfort right now for workers. ''You've got to keep going, and hold your head up,'' a plant worker, Russell Hipwell, said.