Allen Harim Foods has been ordered by the State of Delaware to pay nearly $250,000 for alleged wastewater violations at its poultry processing plant in Harbeson, Delaware.
However, the company is challenging the fines.
According to an Associated Press report published by WTOP, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) released a secretary’s order on March 28, and that order assesses Allen Harim with a $241,000 fine as punishment for more than 90 alleged violations at the poultry plant. The company has also been ordered to pay almost $8,000 to DNREC to cover costs related to the investigations.
The company has been accused of dumping millions of gallons of polluted wastewater into the Beaver Dam Creek between 2012 and 2016.
Allen Harim responds
In a statement posted on the Allen Harim Foods website, Joe Moran, the president and CEO of Allen Harim, said the company will appeal the fines. He stated that Allen Harim has worked hard to address environmental issues and believed the fines were unfair.
"Allen Harim has invested more than $8 million on upgrades to our wastewater treatment plant in Harbeson and since that project was completed in late 2016 we have achieved 100 percent compliance with all discharge parameters listed in our NPDES permit. In addition to that perfect record, the company went one step further and voluntarily came up with a plan to remove all discharge to Beaver Dam Creek, which is the best environmental solution for our treated wastewater,” Moran stated.
Our partnership with Artesian Water Resources reflects our commitment to doing the right thing when it comes to the environment and because of all of these efforts, the company has appealed the penalty assessment because it is considered to be unfair under the circumstances."
Allen Harim Foods, according to the WATT PoultryUSA 2018 Top Broiler Companies Survey, is the 20th largest broiler company in the United States, having processed 8.27 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis in 2017.
