Shuttered Mount Prospect animal feed plant to pay $185K to resolve suit brought by state AG

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Friday entered a consent decree to resolve a lawsuit his office brought against a now-closed Mount Prospect animal feed manufacturing plant over claims of excessive odors.

Prestige Feed Products LLC, which operated at 431 N. Lakeview Court from 2019 until the end of 2025, is required to pay $185,000 in civil penalties, under the decree.

“Residents in the community surrounding Prestige should be able to enjoy their lives and homes without having to endure the foul odors coming from the company’s operations,” Raoul said in a statement. “I will continue to protect all Illinois communities and hold companies accountable when violations of our environmental laws occur.”

Raoul filed suit against the manufacturer in March 2025 based on a referral from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Inspectors were sent to the plant in 2023 and 2024 and noted the stench created there.

“The defendant’s closure of its facility ended its environmental violations, but it is also important that the company answer to its past violations that impacted neighboring properties,” Illinois EPA Director James Jennings said. “Today’s consent order imposes significant civil penalties to deter this company and others like it from violating Illinois law and brings this case to a close.”

The order follows a $900,000 settlement reached July 21 in separate litigation brought by residents. Anyone who lives within a half-mile could submit a claim for a share of the settlement.

Since the factory opened, neighbors complained about smells they likened to burned cheese, arguing in the class-action suit that they suffered hardship as a result of odors and noise.

Prestige’s facility used equipment and machinery to dehydrate and dry raw cheese and soy materials to produce animal feed ingredients, in particular a product known as “Cheese Supreme.”

Mount Prospect police logged more than 1,000 complaints from residents of both Mount Prospect and Des Plaines since 2021.

Following extensive litigation between Prestige and Mount Prospect and, eventually, Des Plaines, a settlement last year led the company to cease operations.

Prestige denied any wrongdoing, but said they settled to avoid the costs of ongoing litigation.

cplacek@dailyherald.com

Daily Herald staff writer Steve Zalusky contributed to this report.