Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S.A.-based food manufacturing firm Big Easy Foods, which produces wild-caught Gulf shrimp products, among others, may have the permits for its Independence, Louisiana-based Gulf Island Shrimp and Seafood processing plant pulled after ignoring years of complaints about odors.
The plant, according to local residents, gives off a strong “spoiled seafood” odor, according to WBRZ.
“It’s rotten shrimp on top of human feces, urine, blood, LSU [Louisiana State University] hospital waste, and whatever people flush down their commodes," Darlene Genova, who lives in the area near the plant, told WBRZ.
"We can't even sit on our front porch and enjoy our retirement because you can't do nothing but smell it," Sharon Vedros, another local resident, said.
The company promised to fix the issues at a special Independence Town Council meeting on 3 April, according to WBRZ; as a result, the council passed a motion to give Big Easy 30 days to fix the problem or it will pull its permits.
At the meeting, Big Easy Co-Owners Larry Avery and Mark Abraham said their company is implementing new measures to handle the smell, such as hiring additional water treatment experts, implementing pretreatment methods, and checking the facility’s pipes.
The company also recently learned there were additional lines in the plant taking discharge straight to the wastewater facility, according to Abraham.
“We busted up concrete, found two or three lines that were not going through pretreatment. They were going straight to the city sewer plant," Abraham said.
City officials said the plant is producing more than twice the amount of discharge allowed by the town ordinance that governs the public sewage system.
If the problem is not fixed within 30 days, Independence Attorney Tim DePaula suggested “suspension or revocation of the permit and the ability to operate."
The town council will meet again in mid-May to check the company's compliance, according to WBRZ.
Big Easy Foods executives did not respond to requests for comment from SeafoodSource.
