Pork plant's "stink burner" goes down in Des Moines

Catch up quick: Des Moines officials have spent decades trying to better quantify and respond to complaints about the city's "putrid rotting smell."

• A 2021 study identified the three most significant odor sources at three animal processing plants in industrial areas east of downtown, including Pine Ridge — a pork packing plant and subsidiary of Smithfield Foods.

State of play: Each of the businesses has cooperated in remediating the problem.

• The total number of city complaints between February 2024 — when Pine Ridge's oxidizer began operation — and March of that year fell by more than half, from 37 to 16, according to city data.

The latest: Smithfield notified the city that its oxidizer broke shortly after Christmas, city spokesperson Peter Zemansky tells Axios.

• Replacement equipment is on order, and the oxidizer will be fixed as soon as possible, Smithfield spokesperson Ray Atkinson told Axios on Friday.

Yes, but: A backup scrubber is being used instead, and the company is staying in compliance with air regulations, Atkinson said.

Reality check: Monthly stink-complaint data isn't yet available to reflect the period without the oxidizer, but there have been 13 complaints since Christmas, compared with seven in January last year.

• There were 192 odor complaints in the second half of 2025, down 42% from 332 during the same period in 2024, according to city data.

🙊 The bottom line: This too shall pass.