Perdue is facing a class-action lawsuit over PFAS contamination in Maryland

Salisbury residents have filed a class action lawsuit against a subsidiary of Perdue Farms over PFAS contamination in groundwater on its property.

The federal lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Maryland, accuses Perdue AgriBusiness of being reckless in its disposal of wastewater containing PFAS, which led to contamination of groundwater beneath its Salisbury site.

The lawsuit alleges that the contamination spread to the neighboring residential community. The class action lawsuit affects all property owners in an approximately 3.25 square mile area considered a “contamination zone.” This also includes anyone who has lived, worked or attended school or church in the affected area for at least six months since 1985.

PFAS are a broad group of man-made chemicals that were first used decades ago due to their resistance to heat, oil and water. They are used in a variety of products including outdoor gear, nonstick pans, food packaging and medical devices. Because they do not deteriorate quickly in the environment, they are known by the nickname “forever chemicals.” Some have been linked to medical conditions, including certain cancers, and have been phased out, while others are still used today.

To determine the radius used in the lawsuit, the law firm representing the residents consulted hydrogeologists and environmental engineers who created a model showing how contaminated water would have flowed from Perdue's site into the community, said attorney Phil Federico.

The more data the company receives, the larger the radius can become, said Federico. However, the company does not expect it to shrink based on the information and test results received so far.

“Based on the data currently available, we believe areas in the community outside of the Perdue property have been negatively impacted,” Federico said.

In a statement, Perdue called the PFAS contamination an “evolving situation.”

“The presence and source of PFAS in nearby residential wells has not yet been determined,” Perdue spokeswoman Andrea Staub wrote. “We are aware of the concern this may cause to nearby property owners and, as we have previously communicated, are cooperating fully with MDE and are actively exploring all options, including other potential sources in the area.”

Federico said his team is also confident that Perdue is the source of the groundwater contamination.

“If this were in an industrial area with a lot of plants right next to each other, then it’s a little more complicated,” Federico said. “We feel very strongly that there is no other source in the area that could produce this much PFAS.”

The problem came to light in September 2023 when the Maryland Department of Environmental Protection tested wastewater at the Perdue AgriBusiness site on Zion Church Road in Salisbury and found high levels of PFAS. The site includes an office building, hatcheries, feed mill, soybean extraction facility, oil refinery and grain storage infrastructure. Many of these buildings are connected to Perdue's own wastewater treatment plant.

According to the agency, wastewater levels were 694 parts per trillion of PFOS and 40 parts per trillion of PFOA, both variants of PFAS. The federal government's new limit for drinking water is 4 parts per trillion.

Maryland environmental officials conducted additional testing of the wastewater and began studying the groundwater beneath Perdue's site. Groundwater tests returned in January showed a range of PFAS levels, from low levels up to 1,370 for PFOS, according to MDE.

MDE then required Perdue to drill additional wells closer to the property line to sample for PFAS. MDE received the results in August, which also included a range of PFAS levels that MDE said were up to 1,300 parts per trillion for a compound called PFHxS, for which the drinking water standard is 10 parts per trillion.

In early October, Perdue publicly disclosed the investigation and said it was offering free well testing to residents within a half-mile radius of the facility (approximately 550 households) and free bottled water upon request.

Regulations surrounding PFAS have evolved recently, and there is a growing body of science surrounding these chemicals. Until recently, there was only one directive from the federal government that suggested limiting some harmful PFAS in drinking water to 70 parts per trillion. However, the new limit of 4 parts per trillion is enforceable for public water systems.

The new class action lawsuit says Perdue's treated wastewater, which MDE says contained PFAS, is discharged into the Peggy's Branch stream near the site and is also used to irrigate nearby farmland. That wastewater then seeped into the aquifer, which supplies drinking water to nearby homes, the lawsuit says.

“During the years that defendants discharged their wastewater into surrounding fields through spray irrigation or other means, they failed to conduct adequate testing of the wastewater to ensure that it did not contain excessive amounts of hazardous substances,” the lawsuit says . “It was clear to the defendants that the water could leak into groundwater and reach the community’s drinking water supplies, including private wells.”

This summer, in an unrelated case, Perdue paid the second-largest civil penalty in MDE history, a $12 million fine for air pollution from its soybean processing plant at the Salisbury site.

Federico said the goal of the lawsuit is to provide transparency about Perdue's PFAS disposal at the site and to stop the contamination. It's also about obtaining compensation for affected homeowners who may need to be connected to public water supplies or receive PFAS treatment technology for their well water.

Individuals are also owed compensation for any loss in property value due to the PFAS discovery, as well as for medical costs they incur due to illness or due to the medical monitoring they undertake for PFAS-related illnesses, Federico said.

The class action lawsuit so far includes six named participants, all of whom live in the 3.25-square-mile area surrounding Perdue's facility. According to the lawsuit, several of the residents suffered from medical conditions known to be linked to PFAS exposure, including kidney and testicular cancer, high cholesterol and reproductive problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The lawsuit does not disclose the class members' specific medical problems.

“Good companies can make unintentional mistakes from time to time. “We determine how good the company really is by the mistakes it makes: Are they fixing the problem?” Federico said.

Perdue, for his part, said in a statement that his “commitment to being a responsible neighbor is unwavering” and promised to “continue to work transparently with our neighbors.”

“We have always prioritized the safety and well-being of our community,” Staub wrote. “And this case is no exception.”

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