Residents living in and around South Pymatuning township are complaining of a sour milk smell coming from Dean's Dairy on Seneca Road.

"You can smell it in your home, you can smell it in your cars. If you're outside long enough it's on your clothes," said Lisa Sutch, who lives near the plant which was acquired by Dairy Farmers of America several years ago.

"When the wind is right you got to go in the house, you can't take it," said Bruce Ottenwalder, long-time South Pymatuning resident.

Residents along Seneca Road will tell you it smells like sour milk, raw sewage, or a combination of the two, but agree its coming from the site of the milk manufacturer. 

"You'd smell it every now and again back in the day but nothing like it is now. It's almost every day and it's pretty overwhelming," Ottenwalder explained.

On the other hand Sutch moved into the area more recently, and tells 21 News the last year and half is when she started noticing the foul odor, consistently.

"We keep our windows shut, especially when it was 90-95 degrees. You couldn't open up your windows, you couldn't sit outside it was that bad," Sutch added.

Sutch plans to bring the issue up at the next South Pymatuning township meeting Wednesday February 11, at 6:00 p.m.

Dairy Farmers of America says they are aware of the issue and responded with this statement:

"Recent extreme temperatures have caused some equipment in the wastewater treatment facility to freeze, which is causing the odor to increase. We take these concerns seriously and are working closely with our suppliers and technical experts to manage the issue.

DFA is committed to being a good neighbor in the Sharpsville community and is actively implementing immediate and long-term odor control solutions to prevent future occurrences. We appreciate the community’s understanding as we work through this issue."

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has not received any prior complaints of odors from the plant, but says they will follow up to investigate.