ALDI customers in Bromsgrove will be among the first in the country who get to try a new range of vegan snacks being trialled at a handful of stalls in the West Midlands.

The new vegan fruit gums come in three flavours, including Walter the Worm, Wendy the Worm and Leo the Lion – all of which are gelatine free.

The snacks, available from Thursday, November 14, will feature a variety of fruit juice extracts – among the flavours are apple, blackcurrant, cherry, raspberry and some which are sour.

Other flavours include orange, apricot, pineapple, passionfruit, lemon, peach, grape and pear.

Aldi took the decision to trial the snacks because, the supermarket giant said, a growing number of people in the UK were adopting a plant-based diet or looking to cut down on their animal product consumption.

Veganism, vegetarianism and flexitarianism have become the biggest food trends in the UK.

If the treats prove popular in the West Midlands stores, they will be rolled out to Aldi supermarkets across the UK.