Nobody can say for sure when it started, but some remember the horrible smell from as long as ten years ago. But everyone knew where it came from though. It came from a place that makes pet food, a Nestle Purina PetCare plant in the UK.

The kids called it the “dog food factory smell”. Others were more descriptive, saying the smell is “minging”, likening it to rotten vegetables and boiling meat. A smell, so horrendous, it makes them feel sick.

Nearby residents say they have been plagued by the pungent pollution for years and it is worse when the weather is warm or in windy conditions. And when summer rolls around, the stench is so bad neighbors are forced to shut themselves indoors, because the smell, they say, is so putrid it’s enough to make them sick.

Man on the moon

One of the neighbors described life near the Nestle Purina plant who said during the spring and summer months weather residents are forced to take drastic measures, “Due to the nauseating smell…we have been shut in our bungalow with our doors and windows firmly closed.” Adding, “It is amazing that we can put men on the moon, but cannot stop a smell.”

Stink stoppers

Nestle Purina Pet Care has come under fire repeatedly over the past decade for failing to stop the foul smell caused by steam emanating from its plant. Eventually people complained so much that Nestle Purina was shamed into investing in several high-tech stink-stoppers in hopes of managing the unruly odors. A new liaison group which was invited to the factory recently to hear about measures already being taken to combat the odoriferous emanations, including investment of more than $420,000 in equipment to help decrease emission sources.

The sh*t detector

Nestle Purina went as far as having a weather monitoring systems designed to monitor certain weather parameters to aid in operations and to “enable staff to access historic data in cases of odour complaints from neighbours.” A 32 foot mast was built to provide a secure and sturdy mount for a weather station which measures wind speed & direction, temperature, humidity and pressure giving Nestle Purina executives data on which way the stench is blowing.

Is it any wonder

I wonder why no one mentioned why the central issue of eliminating the source of the stench was not explored: The ingredients of the pet food. The most obvious solution would be to simply improving the quality of their ingredients. Did anyone wonder what Nestle Purina was putting in the pet food that was so nauseating it would make a person sick? Did it ever occur to them to question the value or the safety of a pet food so foul it would probably make their pets sick as well?

SOURCES:
http://www.skyview.co.uk/acatalog/Nestle_Purina.html
http://www.suffolkfreepress.co.uk/news/latest-news/talks-held-over-pet-food-factory-smell-1-6004738
http://www.suffolkfreepress.co.uk/news/latest-news/factory-bosses-to-hold-meeting-to-cut-foul-smells-1-5389184
http://www.suffolkfreepress.co.uk/news/latest-news/foul-stench-from-pet-food-factory-sparks-complaints-1-5975778