Sun-Brite fined for wastewater discharge

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change levied fines Wednesday totalling $287,500 against Ruthven’s Sun-Brite Foods Inc. related to an unreported and toxic discharge of processed water into the Melville Bruner Drain extension in September 2015.

The company pleaded guilty to two offences under the Water Resources Act and one offence under the Environmental Protection Act.

The ministry fined Sun-Brite $230,000 for the offences and tacked on a victim fine surcharge of $57,500. The company has one year to pay the fines.

Sun-Brite president and founder Henry Iacobelli didn’t return a phone call seeking comment about the fines.

Sun-Brite’s 750,000 square-foot processing plant on County Road 34 cans tomatoes and makes sauces, beans and pasta under the Unico and Primo brands and counts Campbell Soup and Heinz among its customers.

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change said it received calls from residents complaining of a foul smell coming from a Kingsville municipal drain.

The ministry dispatched inspectors who discovered a flowing black-grey discharge that was warm and had a sulphur odour along a Highway 3 municipal drain. Samples were taken and tested for toxicity and general chemistry.

The company was notified of the discovery and a Sun-Brite official confirmed they had been having some issues with their wastewater plant. Ministry inspectors also discovered Sun-Brite officials hadn’t reported the incident to the Spill Action Centre.

The company complied with an immediate order to stop all water processing and clean up the mess.