DeWine
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced this week that the state of Ohio has entered into a proposed consent order with an egg producing company.
The consent order with Ohio Fresh Eggs LLC resolves 71 allegations of violations of the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Ohio EPA laws, regulations and permits at Ohio Fresh Eggs' facilities in Licking, Hardin and Wyandot counties.
The alleged violations include failing to comply with required barn renovation schedules based on a 2001 Buckeye Egg Farm consent order in Licking County. This order was applicable to Ohio Fresh Eggs, which bought the former Buckeye Egg Farm in 2003.
The Buckeye Egg Farm consent order will be replaced by the new proposed consent order, which resolves that complaint and charges in contempt. Many of the charges in contempt date back as far as 2003. Several improvements have begun at the farm as a result of the 2001 consent order.
Under the new proposed consent order, lodged on April 6, Ohio Fresh Eggs faces more stringent insect and rodent control measures and limits on the number of birds that can be stocked at the various Ohio Fresh Eggs facilities.
The proposed consent order also imposes a civil penalty of $625,000, which is payable over the next year in installments. The civil penalty will pay the Ohio EPA $45,000 and the ODA $580,000. The proposed consent order also requires Ohio Fresh Eggs to complete supplemental projects valued at $300,000 within two years of the effective date of the consent order and the payment of $10,000 in enforcement costs to DeWine's office.