Complaint to OSHA: Chemicals make Mountaire workers ill

The North Carolina Justice Center (NCJC) filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), alleging chemicals used at the Mountaire Farms’ poultry plant in Lumber Bridge are causing workers to become ill.

Roy Graber Headshot
(Mountaire Farms)
(Mountaire Farms)

The North Carolina Justice Center (NCJC) filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), alleging chemicals used at the Mountaire Farms’ poultry plant in Lumber Bridge are causing workers to become ill.

Mountaire Farms, however, says the complaint “contains a lot of misinformation.”

According to a report by North Carolina Health News, labor officials have visited the plant and are investigating the allegations after NCJC filed the complaint on August 19 on behalf of an anonymous worker.

In the complaint, attorney Carol Brooke, alleged that Mountaire “either increased or changed its use of chemicals in response to a Salmonella issue.”

Brooke further alleged: “There is a strong odor of ammonia in many areas of the plant. Brooke wrote in a section of the complaint asking for a description of the hazard. “There (are) some days when the odor is better and (other) days it is apparent from the moment you enter the plant. People are having symptoms that include sore throat, persistent cough, chest pain, swollen tongue, dizziness, headaches, and fainting.”

In her cover letter, Brooke said there were reports of fatalities at the Mountaire plant, although she acknowledged she could not substantiate those claims.

In a statement emailed to WATT Global Media, Mountaire responded to the allegations, stating: “Worker safety is always our number one priority and we take all complaints seriously. However, this complaint contains a lot of misinformation. There have been no changes in ammonia and/or bleach at our Lumber Bridge plant, and no complaints from employees concerning ammonia or bleach. We are not aware of any fatalities or injuries related to these chemicals either. We welcomed OSHA’s visit last week and they offered no immediate concerns and we await their final report. We encourage all employees to visit with our HR teams and/or our onsite medical teams if they have any concerns while at work.  We have an established Conduct and Compliance help line so employees can make their concerns known anonymously if necessary. We are in the food industry, and we take food safety seriously as well, which requires us to maintain the cleanest work environment possible. We continually monitor air quality inside our facilities, and last summer invested in hospital-grade air filtrations systems to remove 99 percent of microorganisms from the air.”

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