QUORN owner Premier Foods ate up another maker of meat-free products yesterday as it tapped into the growing hunger of Britons for healthy meals.

Premier paid £27m for Cauldron Foods, which supplies major supermarkets with vegetarian sausages, falafel, tofu and other products from its base at Portishead, near Bristol.

It follows the landmark £172m acquisition of Quorn maker Marlow Foods, of Stokesley, North Yorkshire, in June that took Premier into the healthy eating market for the first time.

Quorn is Premier's largest brand in a portfolio that includes Ambrosia custard, Branston Pickle, Cadbury Hot Chocolate and Sarson's vinegar.

It is the UK's largest meat alternative brand, with annual sales of £95m, and is used in a range of products including burgers, sausages, mince, cottage pie and cold deli slices.

Quorn has a 60 per cent share of the £155m alternative meat market in the UK and is also selling well in Switzerland, Belgium and Holland.

Robert Schofield, chief executive of Premier, said Cauldron was an attractive company to acquire because it was focused on the UK market.

Cauldron, which has 215 staff, generates around 92 per cent of its £14.7m of annual sales from its own brand and pre-tax profits last year totalled £1.3m.

It has grown from supplying a small number of health food stores in the south-west of England to clinching distribution deals with major supermarkets.

Mr Schofield said: "Cauldron's strong position in tofu and vegetable-based products will further enhance our position in the high-growth healthy eating market and will be highly complementary to our Quorn brand."

Cauldron was founded in 1981 and changed owners a number of times before private equity firms Kleinwort Capital and Alpinvest Partners backed a management buy-in of parent firm Rayner & Co at the end of 2000.

ENDS