Meat-free food brand Quorn has revealed it has gained £112m in sales for the first six months of 2018, marking a 12 per cebt rise compared to the same period last year.

The sales rise comes as Quorn revealed it’s on target to reach its aim of $1bn (£760m) of annual sales by 2027.

Following a boom in sales for vegan and vegetarian food, the group has also announced it will be making a £7m investment in research and development at its North Yorkshire headquarters.

Quorn’s chief executive Kevin 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 about 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.”

The UK is Quorn’s biggest market, rising by 12 per cent this year due to the popularity of snacks such as vegan scotch eggs and cocktail sausages.

Speaking on the company’s growth in sales, Brennan added: “We are already seeing amazing growth internationally: Australian sales are up 50 per cent and US sales are up 23 per cent. 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.

“I think the irony is that the product was almost developed ahead of its time. We’ve been around for 30 years but the demand for this kind of product 30 years ago was quite small. It has come into its own in the last five years in the UK and the world.”

It is thought that the drive for vegan and vegetarian food is partly driven by Netflix, who are releasing documentaries addressing the environmental and health effects of eating meat such as Cowspiracy.