Story by Kadin Rogers.
The City of Monmouth held their bi-monthly city council meeting on Monday night. Most notably, the council and public got to hear updates about the ongoing situation at Smithfield Foods, the largest employer currently residing in the city. Concerns have been raised by many Monmouth residents regarding a strong odor emanating from the facility, along with images posted on social media that allege to show neglect and mismanagement of waste product at the facility. Jim Monroe, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Smithfield Foods, spoke at Monday’s council meeting, first deciding to address and offer his condolences for the family of 44 year old Patou Mpinda, a worker who passed away in a workplace accident at the Monmouth facility.
“I want to begin by addressing the tragic loss of Patou Mpinda.” Monroe said. “We are deeply saddened by his passing, Patou was a valued member of our team. He was respected by his coworkers, and someone who will be greatly missed by everyone who works at the Monmouth plant.” Monroe added that members of the Monmouth Smithfield team have visited with Mpinda’s family, and have connected them with available resources to help assist the family. Monroe also confirmed that OSHA is currently investigating the incident, but reiterated their current focus is on supporting the Mpinda family.
Joining Monroe was Tim Messman who is in charge of management at the Monmouth plant. Regarding the images that have been circulating on social media, Messman says that all the pictures that he has seen, showcase areas of the plant that had already been cleaned up in a timely manner.
“Everything that I have seen in those pictures that have been presented to me, those are all areas that have been completely cleaned up, and in a good number of those situations, we had to clean them up just to operate. It was a one day situation that had to be cleaned up.” Messman went on to add that all product has either been hauled off-site, or is currently on-site in roll-off dumpster-type containers that are fully covered up. Messman estimates that what is still left on-site will be gone by the end of the week.
To view the September 21st Monmouth city council meeting in its entirety, click HERE: Monmouth City Council Meeting 09.21.2026
