Environmental Services Division
For Immediate Release
April 17, 2009
EDDYVILLE INDUSTRY SPILLS FOOD ADDITIVE TO STREAM
MEDIA CONTACT: Bill Gross, DNR Des Moines field office, at (515) 238-7871 or [log in to unmask]
EDDYVILLE — An Eddyville industry is cleaning up Friday after a spill at its plant in Monroe County on Thursday.
Friday morning, employees at the Ajinomoto facility discovered a crack in a heat exchanger that was allowing fermentation broth to flow to a cooling tower basin. An unknown amount of water and the broth flowed into a ditch, which empties into an unnamed tributary of the Des Moines River. The facility uses the fermentation broth to create mono sodium glutamate (MSG), a food additive used to enhance flavor.
The broth is a danger to water quality and aquatic life because of its high ammonia and pH levels, and high demand on oxygen in the water. As of early Friday afternoon, no fish kill had been observed.
Ajinomoto has built two dikes to contain the spill and is pumping up the broth. The DNR is investigating the site Friday afternoon.
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