Dairy Crest - Formerly of Chard - Fined £1.5 MILLION and Named in Guardian River Pollution Article

The Dairy Crest Logo
By Dairy Crest - 2018 Annual Report, Public Domain,
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26020209

 

Somerset Independents praises businesses when Somerset can be proud of them. But we also publish evidence of wrongdoing, including any pollution of Somerset and the effects on our wildlife and countryside.

As readers will be aware, the dairy industry is big in Somerset. The Guardian has published details of a prosecution of Dairy Crest in Cornwall. Dairy Crest were formerly of Chard in Somerset until 2015, when they shut their creamery. They still have other sites in Somerset, including Frome and Weston-super-Mare.

In the article, Dairy Crest - rebranded by owner Saputo since 2019 as reported by Farmers Weekly - was found to have polluted the River Inny and nearby land at its Davidstow plant in Camelford, Cornwall and was fined £1.5 million.

The Davidstow plant makes Cathedral City, Clover and Country Life. Saputo own those brands.

In 2019, owner Saputo told Farmers Weekly of:

"plans to increase cheese output from 50,000t each year at its Davidstow factory to 77,000t in the next few years."

and Saputo boss Tom Atherton said that, and we quote:

"I’m really proud of our relationship with Dairy Crest Direct – it’s going deepen and carry on".

In 2019, while the Dairy Crest brand was renamed to Saputo, the producers part would continue to be called Dairy Crest Direct.

In the prosecution, Dairy Crest was found to have repeatedly breached its environmental permit at its Davidstow creamery.

The Guardian reported that at the prosecution (note 2016, the year after closing the Chard creamery - this was the business decision to close Chard and move):

"The court heard how in 2016 Dairy Crest began to install cutting-edge equipment to process whey that could then be sold to baby formula manufacturers and as a probiotic food additive.

However, the equipment did not work as it was meant to. Over several years the company dumped liquid waste, suspended solids and “biological sludge” into the River Inny, raising its nutrient levels and killing trout and salmon" 

The Environment Agency said Dairy Crest had:

"pleaded guilty to 21 of 27 charges brought by the Environment Agency. For committing this catalogue of offences, the firm was fined £1.52 million at the crown court on 23 June 2022. It had already agreed to pay costs of £272,747."

It will be interesting now to see what changes at Saputo / Dairy Crest. They claimed in 2018 to be boosting environmental credentials at the Davidstow plant. But the Guardian article says that:

"The Environment Agency says it “remains deeply concerned” about the site’s environmental performance and its impact on the environment and is continuing to monitor it."

It also begs the question - what did Dairy Crest do when they still had a creamery that was still based in Chard (report from Chard and Ilminster News that mentions - warning it mentions jailed Lib Dem and former South Somerset Council Leader R** P****ster)? 

And what of their other sites in Somerset, including at Frome and Weston-super-Mare?

Are you aware of any pollution by firms in Somerset? We have reported on Wyke Farms and Lye Cross and continue our investigations into other firms.

Get in touch if you have any information to help us to protect Somerset's wildlife and environment.

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