Pedigree Petfoods is a subsidiary of the American group Mars, Incorporated specializing in pet food, with factories in Great Britain at Melton Mowbray, Peterborough and Birstall, Leeds; and offices at Waltham-on-the-Wolds. In 1934, Mars Limited, a division of the large American confectionery company that had been based in Slough since 1932, acquired Chappel Brothers in Manchester. This company took low-quality meat and canned it as dog food, branded as "Chappie". In 1935, production was moved to Slough. In 1939, the company became known as Chappie Ltd. During the Second World War production... was hampered and after the war, raw materials for metal cans was severely limited. A tinned cat food, Kit-E-Kat, was introduced in 1950. In 1951, annual sales reached £1m, and the company moved to Melton Mowbray, using a former sewing-thread mill previously used by Patons and Baldwins. In 1953, the company operated seven days a week, twenty four hours a day on a shift system. A continuous sterilisation process was introduced instead of batch processing. New dog food brands Pal and Lassie were introduced during the 1950s.
more