A GROWING Westhoughton pizza manufacturer has announced an early Christmas present for the area -- 40 new jobs.

Stateside Foods on the Wingates Industrial Estate needs to recruit a new shift to cope with demand for an extra 100,000 pizzas a week.

The new jobs need to be filled before the festive break, but the company is stressing that the vacancies are not seasonal.

The news follows the announcement last month that 35 new workers will be needed in March next year when the company opens a new £1.5 million distribution centre as part of a multi-million pound investment programme.

And the company is hinting that there may be further recruiting next year as well.

Stateside Foods now creates more than 700,000 chilled pre-packed pizzas and pizza crusts every week using 250 tonnes of flour, 28 tones of tomato sauce and 50 tonnes of cheese.

Demand is expected to move towards the one million a week mark in the new year.

Stateside Foods supplies pizza products to Asda, Safeway, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons and Somerfield in the UK.

It also exports pizza bases to 15 European countries -- but not Italy.

Established in 1991, the privately-owned company currently employs 600 people in Westhoughton and has other offices in Skelmersdale and Haslingden.

The annual turnover is £40 million.

Mr Steve Hardie, general manager at the Westhoughton site, said: "Demand has risen sharply over the last quarter and we now need to employ a new shift to meet that.

"Christmas is always a busy time of year for us but these are not seasonal jobs.

"We take the time to invest in our staff and we hope that the new employees will be with us for many a Christmas to come."