EPA Prosecutes Kerry Ingredients

Kerry Ingredients (Ireland) Limited, a dairy and food ingredients processing plant for Kerry Group PLC, pleaded guilty to an offence under the EPA Acts 1992 and 2003 in Listowel District Court on 29 November 2004.

The company, which manufacture milk and other dairy products, admitted breaching a condition of its integrated pollution control licence by failing to store waste oil drums and effluent treatment chemical storage containers in a storage area, which was protected from leakage, increasing the potential risk of pollution to groundwater.

After hearing evidence from an EPA inspector, Judge Lucey imposed a fine of €750 in relation to the offence. The Agency’s costs of €7,484 were also awarded.

The company was issued with an IPC licence on 11 May 2001 (Reg. No. 393) for the manufacture of dairy products where the processing capacity exceeds 50 million gallons of milk equivalent per year. The facility is located on the outskirts of Listowel Town on the Tralee Road, major products include butter, cheese, casein and whey derivatives.

The prosecution was taken following the outcome of site investigations undertaken by the Office of Environment Enforcement.