QUORN is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month as it looks back on its past achievements and to future plans enabling the business to continue on its journey of success.

To celebrate, the Stokesley-based business is holding events across its sites within the region, including a raffle to raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance. It is also launching a social media competition to tie in with the anniversary, where followers can win one of 30 prizes.

Quorn began in the 1960s when, after concern for the ability to feed a growing population, founder Lord Rank set up a project to find a new source of protein. After years of research, mycoprotein was discovered as part of the solution, and is still the core ingredient of Quorn today. It is made by adding oxygen, nitrogen, glucose and minerals to a fungus called fusarium venenatum.

In 1985, the business officially began and in 1990 the first Quorn Meat Free Pie was introduced into Sainsbury’s as a meat-free alternative to the popular dish. It was labelled Sainsbury's Savoury Pie.

Since then the brand has grown dramatically to become the global market leader in meat alternative foods, with listings in all the major UK retailers and now exporting to 16 international markets including Germany, USA, South Africa and Australia.

Quorn has experienced surging demand throughout 2015, with overall sales growing by 7 per cent over the last six months, at a time when most food manufacturers saw flat sales. This was driven by growing consumer request, predominately for health and sustainability reasons, within the UK, US and Nordics.

Last month the business was sold to Filipino firm Monde Nissan for £550m, and plans for further investment is expected to create more jobs within the area, as the business continues on its path for future growth.

The business employs more than 300 people at its North Yorkshire base and Teesside factory. As part of its bid to be a $1billion business by 2020, recently completed a £30m investment to create a third fermenter at its Billingham production plant, where it makes about 22,000 tonnes of mycoprotein per year.

Dr Tim Finnigan, technical and innovation director at Quorn Foods and specialist in sustainable innovation within the meat free market, said: “Having worked at Quorn for 25 years, I have seen it develop to become a business that doesn’t just provide a great-tasting alternative to meat, but also a sustainable alternative source of protein to address the concern of excessive meat consumption within a growing population.

“With the recent sale, there are exciting times ahead for the company and the North Yorkshire and Teesside region as the business continues on its plans for expansion.”