petfoods came to the town in 1951 as chappie ltd, employing at its peak over 2,000 people. it still employs about 1,000. the firm changed its name to petfoods in 1957, to pedigree petfoods in 1972, and most recently to masterfoods in january 2002. at melton, it makes four million items of pet food a day, which is less than it used to be. masterfoods] now have their uk headquarters close to melton at waltham-on-the-wolds.