A FOOD company has announced £40m investment plans.

Quorn Foods, which makes meat-free products, unveiled the proposals as it bids to become a $1bn dollar business.

Kevin Brennan, chief executive, said the move would help elevate the company’s international position in new markets.

The move comes as Quorn, which uses Olympic Games champion Mo Farah for advertising, attracts interest from potential buyers, including the group behind Alpro, the plant-based milk alternative.

The firm employs about 600 workers at its headquarters in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, and previously revealed plans to spend £30m to double production at its factory in Billingham, near Stockton, to create up to 400 jobs.

Mr Brennan said: “Our £40m investment over the next 12 months is a real statement of intent as we pursue our ambition to transform into a $1bn business and make it four to five times our current size.”

At the start of the year, Quorn saw sales surge in all of the 15 countries it directly supplies, particularly the US, where like-for-like sales were up 25 per cent in the second half of 2014.

It has also launched products in Germany, Denmark and Finland.

Quorn’s main ingredient is a plant protein, which replicates the texture and taste of meat.

Developed in the 1960s amid fears of a shortage in protein-rich foods, Quorn as a retail product was first produced in 1985 by Marlow Foods.