Demakes will pay $130,000 to settle violations and has spent $300,000 upgrading systems

Meat processing firm Demakes Enterprises will pay $130,000 (£100,000) in civil penalties to resolve violations of the US Clean Air Act due to mishandling of anhydrous ammonia used for refrigeration, as well as misreporting stores of sulfuric acid.

Demakes has also spent around $300,000 on safety upgrades to its ventilation, ammonia storage and monitoring systems to bring them in line with federal environmental law.

A 2014 Environmental Protection Agency inspection revealed that the company had neglected to report stores of over 225kg of sulfuric acid from lead–acid batteries the previous year as required. Demakes under-reported its inventory of anhydrous ammonia, claiming it had a maximum of 1350kg in 2013, despite documentation showing at least 2850kg.

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