VIOLATIONS DOG BELTEX, DALLAS CROWN

BY LISA SORG

The French-owned Dallas Crown is located in Kaufman, Texas, about 35 miles southeast of Dallas. It employs 40 people, and the plant is not unionized. In 2001, Dallas Crown earned $9 million in gross sales and killed and processed 13,000 horses.

According to records from the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), Dallas Crown was last inspected in 1991. That year, it was cited for five serious violations including electrical wiring problems, "control of hazardous energy," insufficient personal protective equipment, and holes in floors and walls. The plant corrected the violations and paid $4,025 in fines.

Dallas Crown has also violated Kaufman's Industrial Waste Ordinance at least eight times since August 2000 for spills and excessive levels of contaminants - including horse manure - in its wastewater according to files obtained under the Open Records Act.

Most recently, on May 27, Dallas Crown received a reprimand from the city's Public Works Department for blowing a 45-day deadline to fix the plant's pretreatment unit. "Your system has not improved and subsequently it has gotten a lot worse," reads a letter from the city to Dallas Crown.

Faulty pretreatment has had "adverse effects" on the Kaufman's wastewater treatment plant, which has had to process "high ammonia levels, manure, and hay" from Dallas Crown. In addition, horse parts had been strewn near the building. "I have witnessed bones and blood laying in front of the facility," wrote Mike Merritt, Kaufman's wastewater plant superintendent.

In the letter, city officials threatened to shut off the plant's water and sewer service and revoke its wastewater permit if the violations are not corrected.

In May 2002, the City inspected the plant and noted that "manure had run into the drainage ditch" near Highway 175. The City noted another public health hazard "was the vector attraction due to bones and horseflesh falling off your bone trailer," and that "dogs were carrying the bones into the community."

Beltex, a Belgian company, is located in Fort Worth, and has slaughtered horses for human consumption for 27 years. It employs 90 people, and like Dallas Crown, its workforce is non-union. In 2001, the company had gross sales of $30 million. It slaughtered and processed more than 27,000 horses.

OSHA records show that from the plant's initial inspection in 1977 to its last inspection in 1997, Beltex racked up 29 violations - 28 of them serious. An ammonia leak occurred in 1996, but no one died or was permanently injured.

Thirteen of Beltex's 29 violations were eventually deleted, said OSHA's Area Director Dean Wingo, because there was either insufficient evidence to penalize the plant, or the company successfully contested the case. The company has been fined $22,500, but the records are unclear if the amount has been paid because some of the plant's cases remain open.