A COMPANY on a mission to turn instant noodles into a healthy meal is set to take major steps forward in the new year.

Mr Lee’s Noodles – devised by Bournemouth entrepreneur Damien Lee – will be dispensed from machines for the first time, while local people will be offered the chance to invest.

The product was devised by Damien Lee, who had adopted a healthier lifestyle after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of the cancer Hodgkin lymphoma.

Despite being told that most people in his situation preferred not to bother with treatment, he undertook 18 rounds of chemotherapy and was given the all-clear.

Meanwhile, his mission to eat more healthily led him to devise a healthy form of instant noodle, with recipes devised by local chef Andy Chu.

He said more than 100 billion instant noodle meals are currently sold worldwide per year. “The World Noodle Association estimates by 2025 it will be 120 billion. More and more people are eating rubbish,” he said.

“The other noodles, they all use dehydrated ingredients. The noodle sector is so competitive, basically it’s a race to the bottom.

“I thought I’d do a different product and I’m not going to be involved in a race to the bottom. I thought, I’m going in a completely different direction – I’m going to create the most expensive ones, with higher quality ingredients. I’m going to take out the preservatives and anything unnatural.”

His noodles, which use fresh ingredients freeze-dried, retail for £2.99. They can be bought from the company’s website and Amazon and are on the shelves at FC Watersport in Sandbanks and Kaplan, Bournemouth University International College at the Lansdowne.

In the new year, the company will roll out vending machines, called kiosks, which dispense noodles hot and ready to eat. The first will be at Bournemouth University after caterer Chartwells agreed to pilot them.

Customers will be able to pay with Apple Pay, PayPal or cards, and the aim is to roll them out to workplaces and education institutions around the country.

Mr Lee also plans a campaign on the crowd-sourcing website Seedr in the new year, giving locals the chance to buy a stake in the business for a minimum of £10.

He has been named a finalist in the Entrepreneur of the Year category of the Amazon Growing Business awards, whose previous winners have included Innocent Drinks, Betfair and Lovefilm. The noodles’ Hong Kong street beef flavour took silver at the food industry’s Lunch! Innovation Challenge Awards.

All this is being achieved from an office and kitchen on Bournemouth’s Old Christchurch Road.

“I’m immensely proud to say we’re a Bournemouth brand,” said Mr Lee.

“I’m from Sydney and we came here attracted by the beach. We came down for the air show and I said ‘It’s got a beach!’ I went to Sandbanks and said, ‘This is almost like Sydney’. I said to (my partner) Lex, ‘Let’s get out of London and go down to Bournemouth’.”

He added: “We’re proud of Bournemouth and we’re proudly waving the Bournemouth flag.”