ADM assesses damage to its processing complex in Decatur, 4 employees remain in hospital

On Sunday, September 10, at around 7.11 pm, there was an explosion at the East Plant within ADM’s industrial complex in Decatur. Five employees were hospitalized due to their injuries.

The main fire was extinguished overnight.

The East plant, which produces soybean oil and white flake for soybean protein production, is currently not operational, and the adjacent corn processing plant is also temporarily down, said ADM on Monday.

The US agribusiness group said it remains focused on providing support for the four injured employees who remain in the hospital as well as their families. "One colleague has been released. We are also providing counseling resources to colleagues on-site."

It is now in the process of restarting operations at the corn plant and it said it expects to resume normal operation levels in the coming days.

Raw material production capabilities at the East plant were impacted by the explosion. But no damage occurred in the protein production area of the plant, it confirmed. "We are able to source raw materials from alternative facilities."

The company expects to restart the majority of protein production at the facility in the coming weeks. "We will also leverage our vast transportation and origination network to meet customer needs until we can resume full operations at the plant."

It said its investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing.