Tyson Foods released millions of pounds of pollution into U.S. waterways,
including in Missouri
St. Louis Public Radio | By Eric Schmid
Published May 4, 2024 at 4:00 AM CDT
The Tyson plant in Noel, MO. The company settled price fixing lawsuits for
more than $200 million without admitting any guilt.
Abbie Fentress Swanson/Harvest Public Media
The Tyson plant in Noel, MO. The company settled price fixing lawsuits for
more than $200 million without admitting any guilt.
The majority of the pollutants released by Tyson in the five years the study
examines were in the Midwestern states of Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri.
Meat processing company Tyson Foods released at least 371.7 million pounds
of pollution into U.S. waterways between 2018 and 2022, according to a report
released this week from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
It’s the first time Tyson’s individual impact on the environment has been
examined in this way, said Omanjana Goswami, one of the study’s authors. She
said one of the goals of this study was to help consumers understand how major
food companies with deep market penetration affect the environment.
“Companies like Tyson Foods have a massive hold on our farming system,” she
said. “If you’ve bought chicken at the supermarket or if you’ve eaten nuggets
at McDonalds, you’ve most likely been a consumer of Tyson Foods. It’s really
hard to avoid.”
The analysis examines publicly available data on discharges from Tyson’s
plants that have a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Goswami said. It
identifies 30 pollutants released including chloride, nitrogen, phosphorus and
a handful of other metals.
“There’s a long laundry list of pollutants that Tyson releases every year,”
Goswami said.
Of the 371.7 million pounds of pollutants released, the study finds nitrogen
accounted for 34.2 million pounds and phosphorus accounted for 5.1 million
pounds. Both of these nutrients can harm plant and animal life in waterways
when found in excess.
On top of that, the majority of the pollutants released by Tyson in the five
years the study examines were in the Midwestern states of Nebraska, Illinois
and Missouri, she said. It’s a part of the country that already has excessive
nitrogen and phosphorus running off from farms.
“You see a large part of the pollution is clustered around the Mississippi
River Basin,” Goswami said. “Eventually, a lot of this flows into the
Mississippi River, which then finds its way to the Gulf of Mexico, which then
has this massive hypoxic dead zone.”
The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico has been a problem for decades. The
overabundance of nutrients can starve aquatic life of oxygen, said Kelly
McGinnis, executive director of the Mississippi River Network.
“Fish and things that can easily swim away are able to,” she said. “Shrimp
and other invertebrates often aren’t.”
Upstream, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution can cause issues in local
communities too, McGinnis said.
“If you live in a community that is having excessive nutrients, then your
wastewater treatment plant is going to be working harder to treat that water,”
she said.
Those who rely on well water may need to test it to ensure it’s safe to use,
McGinnis said. Excessive nutrients in local waterways can also lead to harmful
algal blooms, making them unsafe for recreation and even fatal for dogs,
livestock and other animals, she added.
Likely an undercount
While the report from the Union of Concerned Scientists identified hundreds of
millions of pounds of pollution by Tyson, it’s not a complete look at the whole
meat industry, or even all of Tyson’s operations. Goswami explained that’s
because they could not examine pollution data from smaller Tyson plants that
don’t meet the threshold to require a NPDES permit from the EPA.
“Which means what they are releasing is going on unchecked in terms of both
quantity of pollutants as well as category and type of pollutants,” she said.
“And we are not able to capture that data.”
The EPA estimates about 300 of the 7,000 meat processing plants in the
country need permits to discharge pollution, Goswami explained. She said
because such a small number of plants are required to report, researchers are
“looking at a scale of pollution whose ceiling we can’t quantify.”
McGinnis noted the report only examines meat processing facilities, which
are one part of the meat supply chain.
“My mind could not help but make a connection to the concentrated animal
feeding operations that are also operating in these same areas,” she said.
“This report shows an astonishing impact on water quality by one company and it
seems there’s so much deeper we can go.”
A Tyson spokesperson said the company constantly monitors the wastewater
coming from its facilities and works with federal and state regulators and
local municipalities when planning and designing their discharge systems.
“Tyson Food uses a robust management system to mitigate environmental risks
and impact, and we strive to run our operations as responsible stewards of our
natural resources,” the spokesperson said. “This report does not acknowledge
our ongoing compliance with EPA regulations and certification by the Water
Alliance for our strong water management practices.”
The report does note the $2 million criminal fine Tyson paid in 2018 for
violating the Clean Water Act in Missouri and the $3 million settlement in 2021
over illegal wastewater discharge that killed hundreds of thousands of fish in
Alabama. Tyson’s annual revenue in 2023 was more than $50 billion.
“When you’re able to have that kind of wealth concentrated in a company,
they are not deterred by the fines that the current structure of the systems
have in place,” McGinnis said. “We know there’s other large scale companies
like Tyson.”
The EPA is updating its wastewater pollution regulations for meat processing
industries, particularly setting new rules for nitrogen and phosphorus, Goswami
said.
“We’ve known, historically and based on the agenda that these companies have
of prioritizing profit, that they’re most likely going to push back on
regulations like this,” she said.
McGinnis agrees there needs to be more regulations in place, but also argues
large companies like Tyson need to shift how they consider and measure success.
“Climate change is only going to exacerbate the impacts of water pollution,”
she said. “I think that means for a company like Tyson, are there other metrics
of successful business besides just your profits?”
Copyright 2024 St. Louis Public Radio
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News pollutionWaterwater qualityTysonEPAenvironment
Eric Schmid
Eric Schmid covers Economic Development for St. Louis Public Radio. He's
primarily focused on examining policies and ideas to drive population and
business growth throughout the St. Louis region.
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