Dean Foods, Buffalo Rock begin next phase of odor testing

After a year of persistent odor issues in West Homewood, both the Dean Foods and Buffalo Rock facilities are beginning a new stage of testing in hopes of finding the source of the smell.

This is not the first time that either company has conducted efforts to eliminate the smell, which has been described as sour, rotten or cheesy. However, since the Homewood City Council employed Volatile Analysis to determine the chemical compounds producing the smell, Dean Foods and Buffalo Rock now have a better sense of what they're looking for.

The council also voted at its Oct. 24 meeting to pay an additional $14,760 for Volatile Analysis to continue working with both companies and act as a liaison for the city as they complete testing and, ideally, enact solutions.

Dean Foods plant manager Eddie Allen said that the company first conducted testing in November and December 2015, then employed the environmental engineering consulting firm Brown and Caldwell in July for more tests. Allen said their results, delivered in September, showed that the Dean Foods was likely not the source of the odor.

However, after meeting with representatives from the city and Volatile Analysis, Allen said they chose to employ Brown and Caldwell for air dispersion testing to confirm that their initial results were accurate.

"Our plants have been an active part of this community for more than 40 years and we care about our fellow Homewood neighbors. Our employees, friends and family live, work and play in the West Homewood neighborhood," Allen said.

Air dispersion testing began at Dean Foods on Oct. 19 and Allen said he expected the results sometime in November. He added that Dean Foods is willing to continue working with the city until the odor source is identified and fixed.

Buffalo Rock has also conducted previous testing, as well as neighborhood meetings to talk about the smell issue. In a release, President Matthew Dent said that Buffalo Rock will perform leak testing and emissions sampling at the beginning of November, and at the city's request they will also perform air dispersion modeling. Dent said he expects the results of these tests to be available in mid-December.

"That will tell us whether we are contributing to the odor problem, and if so, what we need to do to address the issue," Dent said.

Neighborhood residents have also brought noise concerns to Buffalo Rock, and Dent said the plant is continuing to work on fixes for those issues. He said the company is working on an "effective, permanent solution" to block or reduce the noise, though he did not state what that solution would be.

The odor testing results are expected to also identify the actual source of the smell, and at that point Volatile Analysis will work with the city and either - or both - companies to create and execute a plan that will hopefully put an end to the problem for their West Homewood neighbors.