Thomas Foods International

Prior to the 2018 fire, operations at TFI’s Northern Heights facility included slaughtering, product packaging and storage, rendering of by-products, skin-salting, and the reuse of wastewater for irrigation. Currently only the rendering plant, skin sheds and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) are operational, with the rendering and blood cooking facility processing by-products from TFI’s Pallamana and Lobethal abattoirs.

The facility operates close to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These hours have increased since the 2018 fire but remain within the permitted hours of operation.

Environmental Management

Environmental risks from the Murray Bridge facility include nuisance odour from rendering operations and the management of wastewater generated by the site. The site borders the Northern Heights community and is close to the more densely populated township of Murray Bridge, which increases the risk of widespread nuisance and community concern relating to wastewater management at the facility.

Odour

The EPA is aware of issues to do with odour generated by the plant affecting the local community. The EPA’s response includes regular meetings with TFI, extensive monitoring campaigns in the community and increased site inspection activity. Their EPA Licence requires actions to minimise odour emissions from the site, including the management and maintenance of a biofilter and a wet scrubber to treat the key odour sources and to implement an Environmental Management Plan for wastewater management and Environment Improvement Program (EIP) (approved by the EPA in June 2025)

A 2023 assessment of TFI’s odour control equipment demonstrated that the equipment was functioning to the required specifications. TFI then engaged an odour specialist to complete a review of all potential odour sources on the site to try to identify any specific section(s) of the facility contributing to odour emissions. While this review identified several measures that could improve odour from the facility, no finding was made about the specific cause of odours being observed off-site.

Since the odour assessment was completed in 2023, TFI has undertaken a range of incremental maintenance and improvement activities at the facility to lessen the impact of odour emissions. The EPA is aware that, despite these efforts, odour issues continue to be a concern for the surrounding community.

Construction of a new rendering facility at TFI’s Pallamana site is unlikely to commence for several years. Therefore, in July 2024, the EPA imposed updated conditions to TFI’s Northern Heights licence (EPA Licence #11649). The updated conditions require:

• Further comprehensive whole of site assessment work, to be completed by an appropriately qualified air quality professional. This work must consider the impacts of the plant’s operations and will propose options for reducing odour impacts, with an Odour Assessment Report to be submitted to the EPA.
• Development and implementation of an Environment Improvement Program (EIP) to implement the preferred odour mitigation options.

Comprehensive site assessment work completed by the appropriately qualified air quality professional was conducted in late 2024. This work informed the resulting detailed odour assessment reports which were provided to the EPA in December 2024 and January 2025. Following this, an EIP was assessed and approved by the EPA on 17th June 2025. The approved EIP is available for public viewing on Thomas Foods International Website - Environment Improvement Program Lagoon Road Murray Bridge.

The EIP details the proposed actions and timeframes to address odour sources at the Northern Heights facility. The EIP consists of ten Compliance Projects to be completed by TFI commencing June 2025. The projects include upgrades to the sites existing infrastructure in order to reduce odour emissions, validation odour monitoring and assessment following infrastructure upgrades, and development of a new Odour Management Plan for EPA approval.

Four of the ten projects are scheduled to be completed by October 2025, with the remaining projects depending on timeframes to obtain the relevant approvals from the local planning authority. Further details on these projects can be found within the plan.

Compliance action 9 of the EIP outlines TFI’s commitments to providing community updates as the EIP progresses.

There are several check points within the EIP that provide EPA oversight of the progress and delivery of the EIP actions over time. The EPA will continue to engage with TFI directly and conduct increased monitoring and compliance inspection activities while these projects progress at the facility.

In conjunction with the EIP, the EPA have also recently approved a TFI Wastewater and Contaminated Stormwater Management Plan for the Northern Heights facility. This plan outlines projects to improve wastewater infrastructure and commitments to on-going maintenance of wastewater infrastructure which is expected to assist with further reductions to odour in the region.

Community Odour Monitoring Activities

Community feedback about odour impacts is valued by the EPA and assists with understanding the impact at different times, under various conditions, and in different geographical areas. If you are experiencing significant impacts, please visit our odour management page for more information about the EPA’s regulation of odour. Residents can lodge odour reports through the EPA’s online reporting portal or by completing a hard copy odour diary.

Given the complexity of odour present in the surrounding area, community reports assist with identifying patterns, specific sources and improving the quality of information available to the EPA. Information such as the odour tones and intensity, time of day, duration of the odour, impacts to amenity, and on-ground weather conditions are of particular interest to the EPA.

In June 2020, TFI received development approval to build a stock production and meat processing facility at 191 Temora Way, Pallamana, about 10 km north of Murray Bridge. This facility is intended to replace the operations lost in the 2018 fire at TFI’s Northern Heights facility. TFI was granted authorisation (EPA Licence #51656) to conduct meat processing and fuel burning at the new processing facility in November 2022, and meat processing operations commenced in May 2023.

The EPA has included licence conditions to ensure adequate management of odour, wastewater (including irrigation) and noise to minimise the risk of impact to the environment and local community.

Pallamana Stage 1 and Licence

TFI’s Pallamana facility will be built in a staged approach, based on capacity and demand. All stages of the development must be completed within 10 years of development approval (June 2020).

Stage 1 construction was completed in May 2023 and has now been successfully commissioned.

The following activities are licensed by the EPA:

• meat processing facilities (with an initial capacity of up to 600 head per day)
• fuel burning (for the boiler systems).
  
  

Subsequent stages of the development are proposed to include expansion of the beef facilities and additional small stock processing capacity for sheep and lambs. A new rendering plant and composting facility are also proposed to be constructed at the site in a later stage of the 10 year development, however the exact timeframe for this is still to be determined.

The EPA will notify the community of subsequent development stages through TFI’s application to include additional activities on the licence and will provide an opportunity to give feedback when this application is received.

Once complete, the Pallamana facility is expected to have a total processing capacity of 1,200 head of beef and 15,000 head of small stock per day.

Environmental Management

The evaluation distances for effective air quality and noise management guideline indicates that the facility should be located at least 1 km away from dwellings. The TFI facility (excluding existing lagoons) is approximately 1.5 km from the nearest non-TFI dwelling. As part of the development application, odour modelling was commissioned and reviewed in accordance with the EPA’s ‘Ambient Air Quality Assessment’ and the Environment Protection (Air Quality) Policy 2016.

The wastewater treatment system at Pallamana has been commissioned in accordance with an EPA approved commissioning plan. A wastewater management plan is being developed for on-going management of the wastewater system. This will ensure that wastewater processes are managed appropriately and in accordance with the design of the facility.

The site is regulated by the EPA to ensure compliance with strict protocols related to odour, wastewater management and noise, and the EPA conducts regular compliance inspections and boundary assessments of the facility.

TFI also operates a small stock abattoir in Lobethal.

The site is regulated by the EPA for compliance with strict protocols related to odour, wastewater management and noise, and the EPA conducts regular compliance inspections and boundary assessments of the facility as part of its ongoing regulation of the site.

The EPA regulates the licenced activities which occur onsite and the EPA licenced waste transporters who carry some materials entering/exiting the facility.

TFI’s cattle feedlot at Webb Road, Tintinara (EPA Licence 44882) is the primary source of cattle processed at the Pallamana abattoir. In 2023, this feedlot increased its capacity from 15,000 Standard Cattle Units (SCU) to 27,000 SCU following the expansion of the feedlot infrastructure. The site is regulated by the EPA for compliance with strict protocols related to odour, wastewater management and noise, and the EPA conducts regular compliance inspections as part of its ongoing regulation of the site.

Some of the questions we are frequently asked include:

• When will the rendering operations be moved from Northern Heights to TFI’s new Pallamana facility?
• What is the best way to lodge an environmental report about a TFI facility?
• How can I report odour impacts to the EPA?
• What is the EPA doing to manage odour impacts from TFI’s facilities?
• Where can I find out more about TFI’s licence conditions?
• Where can I find the TFI Northern Heights Environment Improvement Program?

Answers to these questions are available on our Frequently Asked Questions page.