The Black Farmer is diversifying into the savoury snacking category with the launch of a high meat-content sausage roll.

The company, which is best known for its sausages as well as a range of sauces, is making its first entry into the chilled ready-to-eat market to tackle what it said was the category's poor quality image. It is also launching a range of bacon, which is being stocked in Morrisons and Budgens from next month.

The sausage roll comes in a range of sizes to suit different eating occasions, including a four-pack of 75g products (rsp: £1.99), a pack of six 35g snack rolls (£1.49) and a single jumbo roll (99p). It uses the same meat as the company's sausages, which have a 90% meat content and contain only British pork, and comes in the same distinctive black packaging.

It goes into Sainsbury this month, with other listings in the pipeline.

Black Farmer founder Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones said the launch would shake up the meat snacking category, which he described as in need of a premium injection. "The category is traditional and old fashioned - it doesn't represent modern eating trends. I couldn't wait to get hold of this category and give it a good shake. It has become lazy and predictable and I wanted to bring some premium interest."

He added that the fact that the category was ­mostly own label would ensure his brand had strong shelf standout. "I decided to go into a category that is dominated by own label and known for bog standard products. Our brand has a personality and sets a challenge to producers."

If successful, more savoury snacking products would be added under the Black Farmer brand, said Emmanuel-Jones, with the next most likely to be a scotch egg. "One of my personal favourites is the scotch egg," he said.