A RECRUITMENT drive by crisp company Walkers has attracted 600 applications for the 50 jobs available.

The new staff are needed following the construction of a £5m warehouse next to the company's Peterlee manufacturing base.

To draft in new recruits, Walkers joined forces with JobCentre Plus in Durham.

Yesterday a spokeswoman for the joint venture revealed that the exercise had attracted a massive 600 applications.

A spokesman for Walkers said: "We have invested more than £5m installing state-of-the-art equipment at our Peterlee site which will be at the heart of our UK distribution system and naturally we need to recruit new staff."

He said that the firm was seeking to employ people with experience of working as part of a team in a warehouse environment. The next step in the recruitment drive will be to invite successful applicants for a tour of the warehouse.

Walkers was also in the news this week with its decision to relaunch its cheese and onion-flavoured brand with a cooking process suitable for vegetarians.

Until now the cheese and onion flavour snack has been made with rennet - a meat-based product used in cheese making.

But over the coming weeks the company is to change its cooking process and will be using a rennet-free cheese to create the vegetarian-friendly crisps.

The move has been welcomed by Tina Fox, the chief executive of the vegetarian Society who congratulated the company on its decision to produce the rennet-free crisps.