Criminal pollution charges have been filed by Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater against O.K. Foods in Oklahoma City following the release of wastewater and animal fat into the city’s storm drainage system in March.
Prater filed one count of the “unpermitted discharge” on Sept. 27 alleging the company was in violation of state laws. The filing came after an investigation by the Department of Environmental Quality into wastewater leaks and spills that first happened March 20, 2017.
An affidavit signed by Michael Freeman, a longtime investigator with the DEQ indicated an accidental spill of wash water, animal fat and dye occurred at the OK Foods plant located at 7300 SW 29 street.
Five days later, there was another release of wash water, flour, cooking oil and dye to the same location when a pump failed. But this time, the release traveled into a pit along the company’s property. When the pit filled up, the spill entered a culvert then overflowed into a drainage ditch and eventually into a creek.
Freeman’s investigation showed that after the March 20 spill, workers discovered a culvert that had been covered for years.
“I believe the discharge of wastewater to the creek on or about May 25, 2017 was a result of the negligence of O.K. Foods in the days and weeks after the previous release of March 20, 2017,” wrote Freeman in his affidavit.
His affidavit indicated workers failed to plug the culvert after uncovering it.
The accidental discharge was the second major incident involving the food plant. About the time of the discharge, the company was forced to recall 933,272 pounds of breaded chicken products that were suspected of being contaminated. The recall was announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
The incident that led to the filing of the criminal charge happened about 13 months after OK Foods, based in Fort Smith, Arkansas had wrapped up its $11 million acquisition of the King’s Command Foods facility in Oklahoma City.
Information made available in February 2016 indicated the plant processed and cooked about 700,000 pounds of chicken a week.