Thirty-one people were evaluated by medical personnel and ten of those were hospitalized after a chemical spill occurred on October 22 at the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Arcadia, Wisconsin.
According to a press release posted on the Arcadia Police Department (APD) Facebook page, the Trempealeau County Sheriff’s Department (TCSD) received a call at about 10:05 a.m., in which the caller reported the spill.
The APD, along with the Arcadia-Glencoe Fire Department (AGFD) initially responded to the call, and later received assistance from the TCSD, Whitehall Fire Department, Arcadia Ambulance, Tri-County Ambulance, Tri-State Ambulance, Mayo Clinic Ambulance and Trempealeau County Emergency Management.
The APD press release stated that 31 people were triaged at the scene, and ten of those people were transported to local medical facilities for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening. All ten of those people have since been released.
The chemical spill is being investigated.
The poultry plant in Arcadia was formerly operated by GNP Company. The facility became part of Pilgrim’s Pride’s operations in January 2017 when the Pilgrim’s acquired GNP Company from The Maschhoffs.
Pilgrim’s Pride, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, is the second largest broiler company in the United States. In 2018, it processed 156.02 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis.
