(This story was updated to add new information.)
Perdue Foods LLC was found to have violated its Milford facility permit due to incomplete documentation, inaccuracies and a history with mechanical failures on-site.
Perdue Foods is a division of Perdue Farms, one of the country's largest poultry producers. Its facility in Milford, located at 255 N. Rehoboth Blvd., employs around 1,300 people and processes around 240,000 chickens per day.
Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control issued a notice of violation to the company on Sept. 3. The violation notice comes just over a month after the company's subsidiary Perdue Agribusiness reached a $12 million settlement with Maryland's environmental department, and it reflects similar violations issued by Delaware in 2023.
According to Michael Globetti, media relations manager with DNREC, the notice of violation is merely a "first enforcement measure." No penalties or fees were imposed, but if the company does not take necessary action to correct its violations, a secretary's order could be issued with further penalties.
Here are the details of the violations.
Recent violations include missing records and maintenance issues
According to DNREC's Notice of Violation, multiple issues with the company's operations were uncovered during the department's regular compliance inspection. The issues mostly centered on the company's insufficient record-keeping, especially regarding the deliveries of fuel oil. But they also raised concerns about the content of ecologically harmful chemicals and maintenance issues.
Oil with a high sulfur content that is combusted can pose a threat to the environment by polluting the air. Perdue is permitted to use only oil with a sulfur content of at most 15 parts per million.
As a part of Perdue's permit, any deliveries of fuel oil to the Milford facility must be documented with information including the name, address and telephone number of the deliverer, the volume of fuel delivered, the type of fuel delivered, the sulfur content of the oil and more.
The notice stated that Perdue Milford's site inspection revealed that "many records" were missing necessary information or not readily available altogether – primarily regarding fuel sulfur content. The notice also alleged that many of the records that were made available to the department were incomplete and did not specify the sulfur content or the methods used to test the oil.
A specific incident cited also stated that a 200-gallon delivery of kerosene – which is used for space heaters – was delivered to the site containing 230 ppm of sulfur, over 15 times higher than the permitted limit. Perdue stated to DNREC that this fuel was not combusted and a volume of 200 gallons was removed from the facility 13 days after the delivery.
In poultry production, boilers supply steam for instruments like scalders, which remove feathers from poultry, and for cleaning and disinfection.
Perdue's permit also requires the company to conduct tune-ups of its boiler every other year and to maintain written records of these tune-ups. These records are also required to specify actions taken to optimize the boiler’s total emissions of carbon monoxide – showing the differences before and after each tune-up.
Perdue Milford’s records did not include information about what actions were taken to optimize CO emissions, in violation of their permit.
During the inspection, the department also noticed a stark number of maintenance records for the boilers, implying that corrective actions were employed reactively rather than proactively. While this was not cited as a direct violation of its permit, it was listed in the notice as a point of concern for Perdue’s operations.
Perdue said in a written statement provided after this story published that following last year's inspection, it provided DNREC information regarding both the sulfur content and the appropriate methodology used for kerosene deliveries, which was later deemed "acceptable" by the department.
Additionally, the company said it has since improved processes and enacted new leadership at the Milford facility "to maintain and monitor internal compliance."
Perdue's previous – and similar – violations in the region
This is just the latest example in Perdue Milford's history with documentation and boiler maintenance issues.
In April of last year, a penalty totaling just under $40,000 was issued to Perdue Foods after the division received a shipment of 6,500 gallons of fuel oil that did not meet the permit's sulfur standards and combusting it after DNREC had advised Perdue not to.
Cited in the same violation were noncompliance issues related to Perdue's failure to determine boiler combustion efficiency and report emissions observations as well as submitting incomplete tune-up records.
In August 2023, DNREC verbally communicated to Perdue representatives the need for the company to conduct tune-ups in a more timely manner. Days later, Perdue experienced a boiler failure that led to a sitewide shutdown. DNREC approved and installed a temporary boiler while the original machine was being fixed.
In a notice approving the temporary emergency boiler, DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin stated at the time that "Perdue was not prioritizing maintenance of the boilers and that maintenance work was being performed in a piecemeal manner," and that the boilers must be brought up to standard with "good air pollution control."
On July 31, 2024, the Department of the Environment and attorney general representing the state of Maryland announced a $12 million settlement with Perdue AgriBusiness for air pollution violations at its soybean facility in Salisbury.
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It was reported that the company installed unauthorized equipment and failed to reapply for the proper permits.
According to close sources, this notice is considered the first measure taken and can potentially lead to DNREC's enacting a secretary's order.
This means that the department can take additional action that could potentially penalize the facility for failure of compliance – unless it managed to correct the situation and once again comply with the requirements outlined by DNREC.
Molly McVety covers community and environmental issues around Delaware. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @mollymcvety.
Olivia Montes covers state government and community impact for Delaware Online/The News Journal. Reach her at [email protected].