Kraft Heinz agrees to $8,000 Iowa fine for failing to report discharge over three years

Kraft Heinz Foods Co., the maker of Kraft Mac & Cheese, Lunchables and Jell-O, has agreed to pay an $8,000 fine after Iowa officials discovered its Muscatine plant failed to report the pollution it sent into a Mississippi River tributary over three years.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the publicly traded company, with headquarters in Pittsburgh and Chicago, failed to report to the state its monthly treated discharge into Mad Creek, a Mississippi River tributary, from January 2021 through December 2023, violating its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.

Kraft Heinz, which admitted no wrongdoing under the state's administrative consent order, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The Muscatine plant makes condiments like ketchup, mustard and barbecue sauce.

The state environmental protection agency discovered the reporting gap during a compliance review, which facilities like Kraft Heinz undergo every three to five years, said Terry Jones, an Iowa DNR senior environmental specialist, Friday.

The reporting violation wasn’t flagged in the state’s database because the plant indicated it had shut down, Jones said, adding that the state knew that wasn’t accurate and investigated, discovering the lack of reporting.

Kraft Heinz agreed to pay the administrative fine, according to the Iowa DNR consent order. The state assessed $3,000 against the company for economically benefitting from the violation; $3,000, given the gravity of the violation; and $2,000 for failing to meet the permit requirements.

In November 2020, the state notified Kraft Heinz that discharge monitoring reports showed it had exceeded numerous discharge limits from mid-May 2018 through September 2020 — and that it failed to test effluent as regularly as required under its federal effluent discharge permit. The state required corrective action.

Jones said Kraft Heinz believed the three-year lapse in reporting occurred because of a change in personnel. The company reported it earned $2.85 billion in its last fiscal year.

State administrative fines are capped at $10,000. Iowa DNR could have pursued larger fines — up to $5,000 per day of violation — by referring it to the Iowa attorney general's office.