Animal intestines spilled onto busy highways, leave residents concerned

Animal intestines were spilled onto busy highways in the area three times this week.

According to York County deputies, Valley Proteins is behind two of the three spills on Highway 49 near Clover.

The third spill happened on Highway 29 in Belmont on Thursday.

Even though the messes are cleaned up, neighbors are still trying to shake the lingering stench of animal guts.

"It's definitely nasty," neighbor Stephen Rochester said.

"I gagged a little bit, felt like I was going to throw up, it was that bad," neighbor Frances Mullins said.

The first spill in York County happened Tuesday night. The second spill was reported early Thursday morning.

"How did this happen, did it just malfunction?" asked Mullins.

Channel 9 pressed Valley Proteins for answers, calling their local and corporate offices, asking what they are doing to make sure this doesn't happen again.

They didn't want to comment, leaving neighbors to speculate.

"They're either having faulty trailers or the drivers just aren't paying attention," said Rochester.

He says the messes raise serious health concerns.

"That stuff carries diseases and bacteria and everything else and you don't want that kind of stuff getting out into our systems and out into our water," he explained.

Channel 9 took those concerns to state health officials.

While we are still waiting to hear whether they checked out the spills, they said they typically respond to these situations to make sure there aren't any threats to water sources or drivers.

"It's a big health hazard. You just can't have stuff like that sitting out in the middle of the road," said Rochester.

According to Valley Proteins' website, animal parts are often used in feed ingredients and clean energy alternatives.

Cox Media Group