The History Channel documentary series “The Food That Built America” will air its season 4 episode “Dog Eat Dog,” which will take a look at the beginnings of commercial pet food in the U.S., on July 16, 2023 at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
The episode will feature the show’s signature historical re-enactments of relevant key events as well as commentary by industry experts, including WATT Global Media’s own Lindsay Beaton, editor of Petfood Industry magazine and host of the Trending: Pet Food podcast.
According to the episode’s summary description: “At a time when dog food is a rarity and cat food is almost nonexistent, it will take visionary innovators to invent the first dog treat, the first dry dog food, the first cat food, and many more innovations that will carve out the billion-dollar pet food industry, and solidify dogs and cats as part of the American family.”
Pet ownership and spending in the United States
According to the American Pet Product Association (APPA)’s State of the Industry data for 2022, there are now 87 million pet-owning households in the U.S. The U.S. pet industry overall neared US$137 billion in sales, up 11% from 2021.
“While we outperformed our 2022 forecast, we know this increase can be attributed in large part to higher-than-anticipated inflation, and we expect spending will follow a similar trajectory and remain steady in 2023,” said APPA President and CEO Peter Scott. “Along those same lines, we saw pet ownership normalize and return to pre-pandemic levels, which is not surprising given the uptick we saw in pet acquisition as a result of the pandemic.”
Pet food and treats alone contributed US$58.1 billion to total sales, according to the APPA, and was both the highest spend category and the category with the biggest increase (16.2%).
More on “The Food That Built America”
“The Food That Built America” is a nonfiction docudrama series that premiered in 2019. Each episode tells the story behind some of the biggest brands in the United States, and has covered the origins of entities and rivalries such as Pizza Hut and Domino’s, McDonald’s and Burger King, and Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme. Season 4 is the latest season, running in 2023 and airing a total of 16 episodes.
