A SUFFOLK family firm has taken up a healthy position in the food industry, with its products filling the shelves of supermarkets nationwide.

Hillfarm Oils, based in Heveningham, near Halesworth, has been going from strength to strength after establishing a market for premium culinary rapeseed oil – now worth more than �9million to the UK economy and providing income for around 35 farms across the country.

The company was launched in 2004 by father and son, Alan and Sam Fairs, who have been using sustainable farming methods for almost 40 years.

Now competing in a growing industry, Hillfarm Oils remains at the forefront of the cold pressed rapeseed oil market and produces one of the only rapeseed oils to be stocked in supermarkets nationwide.

It is available in around 500 Tesco stores, as well as Sainsbury’s and Waitrose throughout the country, and in local farm shops and delicatessens throughout Suffolk.

Sam Fairs, whose firm is committed to recruiting staff from within the county and currently looking for a business manager locally, said: “People are always looking for local food product alternatives.

“General awareness is growing all the time of the uses and benefits of cold pressed rapeseed oil.

“We were leaders in a movement this time last year, and since then we’ve gone into a lot more stores around the country.”

This year the British Association for Cold Pressed Oil Producers named Hillfarm the leading rapeseed oil in the country. Cold pressed rapeseed oil contains lower saturated fat than olive oil and sunflower oil.

The company already works with brand ambassadors including Dr Sarah Jarvis from The One Show as well as leading chef Mark Hix.

As well as looking for a new business manager, Hillfarm is planning the launch of a charity partnership.