THE vegan food boom has prompted one of Britain’s leaders in meat-free food to make a multimillion-pound investment in the North-East.

Quorn is spending £7m on a research and development facility at its North Yorkshire headquarters as the meat-alternative brand attempts to capitalise on the increased popularity of veganism.

Quorn expects to take on about 100 new staff during the year ahead, including boosting its 35-strong research and development team based in Stokesley, The company, which currently produces 50,000 tonnes of its mycoprotein a year, will also open a manufacturing plant beside its fermentation facility in Billingham in September, enabling it to double production of meat-free pieces and mince substitutes, its biggest sellers.

Revealing a 12% rise in sales to £112m in the first six months of the year, Quorn’s chief executive, Kevin Brennan, said the company was determined to step up innovation to ensure it kept up with a battalion of new rivals by developing its own bleeding vegan burger. While all Quorn’s products are vegetarian, most contain some egg. After a surge in demand for its vegan products it is rapidly developing more.

Mr Brennan said: “Nobody can yet produce the array of products available at such high quality and we want to keep that advantage.

“All over the world we have seen a real step-change in the way people are eating. Young consumers are really starting to have concerns around meat from a health and sustainability point of view. It’s not that younger consumers are all turning vegan or vegetarian but they are eating substantially less meat.”

Quorn’s sales in the UK, by far its biggest market, rose by 12% in the first half of the year, as Mr Brennan said snacks such as vegan scotch eggs and cocktail sausages were selling particularly well.

“We are already seeing amazing growth internationally: Australian sales are up 50% and US sales are up 23%. In the US supermarket giant Kroger, we now have the fastest selling product in the [meat alternative] category. With continued investment we believe we can continue this level of performance,” Brennan said.