 In a four-year period in North Carolina in the 1990s, of hog fecal matter were released into the state's rivers.Workers and residents near Smithfield plants reported health problems and complained about the stench.The company was fined $12.6 million in 1997 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for 6,900 violations of the Clean Water Act after discharging illegal levels of slaughterhouse waste into the Pagan River in Virginia.