A chemical leak occurred at a West Liberty Foods facility on February 8, but nobody was injured in the incident.
According to a report from KCRG, an employee at the plant in West Liberty, Iowa, noticed an unusual odor around 6:45 p.m. on the outside of the plant building. The employee discovered vapors leaking from a chemical storage building, and then reported it to managers at the plant.
Emergency responders from the West Liberty Fire Department and the Muscatine County Hazardous Materials team responded to the situation.
The vapors were found to be coming from a plastic tote in the storage building, and the tote contained antimicrobial treatment product Inspexx.
The vapors were drifting toward some empty turkey barns and in the direction of some nearby apartment complexes, which were evacuated for about 20 minutes.
The leaky tote was placed inside another sealed container, and the situation was brought under control around 9:03 p.m.
West Liberty Foods, according to the WATT PoultryUSA Top Turkey Companies rankings, is the tenth largest turkey producer in the United States, slaughtering 228 million pounds of turkeys annually.
