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Incident occurs in food coloring plant

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An explosion at the Givaudan Sense Color plant on Payne Street in Louisville's Clifton neighborhood killed two people and injured others Tuesday afternoon and shattered glass in homes and surrounding businesses. In addition, this is not the first time that a similar incident has occurred directly at the factory.

Givaudan Sense Color – formerly DD Williamson & Co. – is a food coloring company with 12 locations around the world. There are two facilities on site. The Payne Street location suffered an explosion in 2003 and was pre-ordered by Louisville in 2023.

Here's what we know about the company.

Louisville fire Firefighters on duty after a reported explosion in the Clifton district

What is Givaudan Sense Color?

Givaudan Sense Color was originally founded in New York in 1865 to supply malt to breweries. According to its website, the company has since transitioned to offering “a full range of natural colors, caramel colors, burnt sugar, and fruit and vegetable-based browns” to the soft drinks market.

“Together we create culinary experiences with the widest range of natural colors, brought to life by an unparalleled team of experts,” the website says.

The company has three U.S. locations: two in Louisville and one in Wisconsin.

The Payne Street facility previously operated under the name DDW, The Color House, and was acquired by Givaudan in December 2021. At the time, Givaudan was headquartered in Switzerland, according to a takeover announcement.

DDW was a privately held company with 11 locations on five continents.

What happened at the Givaudan Louisville site?

An explosion at Givaudan's Payne Street plant shortly after 3 p.m. on Tuesday sent 11 people to hospital, two of whom were dead as of Wednesday morning, according to The Courier Journal. Louisville Metro emergency services later picked it up around 4:30 p.m

An explosion occurred at the Payne Street facility in April 2003. At the then company DD Williamson & Co., a worker died, forcing 26 people to be evacuated and 1,500 people to be placed in emergency shelters. The investigation found that a defective feed tank, which resulted in a 26,000-pound aqua ammonia leak and the death of the machine operator due to “massive trauma,” was responsible for the explosion, as well as possible deficiencies in the company's operations.

Givaudan, a Swiss company, later acquired DD Williamson & Co. in 2021 and just last year attracted local attention for alleged violations of air pollution regulations at its Payne Street plant. The company received two notices of violation from the Air Pollution Control District.

Louisville explosion The Clifton explosion is similar to one from two decades ago that led to a lengthy investigation

Where is Givaudan Sense Color?

Givuadan Sense Color has two locations in Louisville, one at 1901 Payne St. and another at 100 South Spring St. The company also has offices in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, China, etc., including more than 160 worldwide. According to the company's website, they employ more than 16,000 people in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Reporters Connor Giffin, Killian Baarlaer, Leo Bertucci, Lucas Aulbach and Eleanor McCrary contributed to this article. Contact news reporter Marina Johnson at [email protected].

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