The company, which was established as Uncle Ben's in 1967, will provide a welcome manufacturing boost by expanding its single serve pet food line by expanding an existing facility on site by a third.

The $52 million comes in a partnership between Mars Petcare and the Victorian Government in a similar commercial in confidence deal between the Logic rail hub developers and government.

But Mars Petcare is contributing the majority of the funding in the initial expansion which is part of a wider $141 million investment in the site over five years.

A cannery, one of the original buildings established by Uncle Ben's, will be re-built to modern standards in stage two.

Mars Petcare Australia general manager Sylvia Burbery side-stepped questions about whether the plant's future had been in doubt without the government funding.

"We have a great base and a great heritage here that we want to build on," she said.

"It is about setting up for the future and making it state of the art.

"The government partnership is really important in terms of securing support for the Australian business on an international level.

"These investments are critical for us."

Mars Petcare is the largest pet food maker in Australia and more than half of its revenue is generated from products made in Wodonga.

The factory also buys $110 million of ingredients from Victorian suppliers annually.

The single serve product line is expanding to meet demand from Asia-Pacific markets.