MUSCATINE – The Kraft Heinz Foods Company has been pumping nasty pollution into an Iowa stream for years and received a tiny slap on the wrist for their misdeed.
Kraft Heinz makes foods that Iowans scarf down by the gallon, like ketchup and at its expanded plant in Mason City, Jell-O. It bills itself as “the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, with eight $1 billion+ brands.” Kraft Heinz gross profit for the twelve months ending March 31, 2024 was $9.056B, a 9.06% increase year-over-year. Kraft Heinz annual gross profit for 2023 was $8.926B, a 9.9% increase from 2022.
In order to make these sugary, tasty, bib-wrecking, chunky-person-producing treats, Kraft Heinz might cut a corner here and there, like spewing wastes into the waters of Iowa, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. For example, Kraft Heinz operates a wastewater disposal system in Muscatine County, Iowa. Pursuant to this permit, Kraft discharges to Mad Creek, which is a tributary of the Mississippi River. Between May 18, 2018, through September 2020, numerous effluent limits were exceeded, the DNR says. Then, between January 2021 through December 2023 there were no effluent monitoring data or results – a failure to report.
According to a report released on July 12, Kraft Heinz has agreed to pay a whopping $8,000 in total fine to make this pollution problem go away. The DNR also said that an economic benefit was achieved by the company for failing to conduct the required monitoring.
“Degradation of Iowa’s waterways is a serious problem. Degraded water quality harms aquatic life, prevents the attainment of state water quality goals, and causes a decline in the quality of life generally. Further, the monitoring requirements in NPDES permits are the backbone of this program. Noncompliance with an NPDES permit thwarts the integrity of the NPDES permit and water quality program,” the DNR stated in its report.
This penalty will definitely make a company making billions in profits each year think twice about committing more atrocities upon our waters.
(TOP PHOTO of a polluted stream via Iowa Department of Natural Resources.)