Chicken-processing company Two Sisters Food Group has been fined £49,500 after the company breached the conditions of a permit for its abattoir at Cullompton in Devon.

Honiton Magistrates’ Court heard that the site, which processes approximately 700,000 chickens each week, has a permit to discharge treated effluent into Spratford Stream. The conditions of the permit require the firm to adhere to strict quality levels, monitor performance and inform the Environment Agency if it breaches the permit’s limits. A report to the agency in April 2009, following work on the site’s effluent treatment plant, revealed eight separate breaches of the site’s permit. The company eventually pleaded guilty to 18 offences under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2007 between 5 January and 11 August 2009. At times ammonia levels in Spratford Stream rose to 119mg/litre – almost 24 times the legal limit (5mg/l), says the agency, while levels of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) were up to three times the permitted limit – 61mg/l compared to 20mg/l. Ammonia is toxic to aquatic life.

The court was told that the person previously responsible for the site’s effluent treatment plant had been made redundant and that his replacement had received inadequate training. It also heard that no operating manual had been produced to ensure employees operated the effluent treatment plant correctly.

“These offences occurred over a period of several months and were avoidable. The company should have identified the problem sooner and put measures in place to ensure effluent from its plant was being treated to the required standard,” said Robert Tratt for the Environment Agency.

Since the offences, the company has spent £120,000 upgrading its effluent plant and operational systems. In addition to the fine, Two Sisters Food Group was also ordered to pay £13,170 costs.