Ammonia release at North Carolina food plant sends 4 workers to hospital, company says

Ammonia forced a North Carolina food plant to evacuate, sending four workers to the hospital, officials said.

The potentially dangerous gas was released into the plant hours before a worker was found passed out in its parking lot. The employee died of circumstances believed to be unrelated to the ammonia release, according to Smithfield Foods.

The company — which produces several meat products — reported the incidents on Jan. 6 at its plant in Tar Heel, roughly 85 miles south of Raleigh.

At about 1 a.m., officials said a freezer malfunctioned, releasing ammonia into a refrigerated part of the building.

“The entire facility was immediately evacuated,” Smithfield Foods told McClatchy News in an emailed statement. “Four employees were sent to the hospital for observation after experiencing nausea and have since been released.”

While Smithfield Foods said fewer than 800 people were in the facility at the time of the incident, Bladen County Emergency Management told WECT that roughly 2,500 were evacuated. The company stopped its Tar Heel plant operations for the day and said it would make repairs before reopening the facility on Jan. 7.

Outside of the facility, a worker was found unresponsive at about 4:30 a.m. and pronounced dead. While Smithfield Foods said the employee’s cause of death wasn’t known, Bladen County officials said he had experienced cardiac arrest, WECT reported.

“He did not work in the refrigerated section impacted and there is no indication that this was related to the ammonia release in the plant,” Smithfield Foods wrote in its statement.

In response to McClatchy News’ request for information, the N.C. Department of Labor in an email said “we can’t confirm anything at this point, but we have compliance officers heading to the site.”

Ammonia has several uses, including in refrigeration, agriculture and household cleaning. People are urged to use ammonia with caution, as it’s a “colorless, flammable gas with a pungent, suffocating odor” at room temperature, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

“High levels of ammonia can irritate and burn the skin, mouth, throat, lungs, and eyes,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote. “Very high levels of ammonia can damage the lungs or cause death.”

Bladen County Emergency Services didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for additional information on Jan. 6.

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