Warehouse Fire Rotten Meat Clean Up Complete Says Company

Dietz and Watson says the clean up of rotting meat left behind in their Delanco warehouse after a massive fire has been completed.

Dietz and Waston's CEO Louis Eni announced via a Twitter account set up to provide updates of the site, @DelancoCleanup, that "All spoiled food and debris will be removed from the site by the end of the day today." He estimates that 9,000 tons of food was removed from the 600,000 square foot warehouse in 600 truckloads.

The rotting lunch meat created a strong odor in the area around the Delanco warehouse which Eni recognized still remains. “My sincere hope is that the worst of it is behind us & behind the people who have been smelling that foul odor for days. We will not rest until the quality of life in the surrounding neighborhoods is back to normal."

The company has hired a Pennsylvania company to rid the air of the smell.

Warren Planker, the owner of BioTriad explained that  “Our company uses an odor neutralizing blend of natural, biodegradable plant extracts diluted with water to form what we call an odor neutralizing solution," he told WCAU TV.

Flare ups at the 300,000 square foot facility on Labor Day weekend only stopped this week. They were preventing a full-scale operation clean up from getting underway and intensified the smell. Dietz and Watson says the smell, while foul, is not toxic, which many neighbors don't believe.

“I actually had to cover my face to bring my dog outside. Yes, it was that putrid,” Kathy Morgan, who lives more than a mile away in Beverly, told the television station. “It’s horrible, it’s just horrible and they are saying that it’s OK for us to breathe, but I don’t believe it.”