On August 5, 2022, local environmental authorities ordered 15 fishmeal companies in the Ullal and Mangalore areas of India to shut down. Among those companies was Blueline Foods. The reason for the order, according to the Karnataka State Pollution Board, was that these plants were “constantly polluting air and water” in violation of the Air and Water Acts, according to reporting by The Hindu. Specifically, the board chairman stated that the companies continuously dumped industrial effluent into the sea and emitted foul smells from their facilities.1
Apart from Blueline Foods, the other 14 companies that were also ordered to be closed down were: Ullal Fish Meal and Oil Company, United Marine Products, Super Aqua Tech, S.M. Marine Products, Fahad Fishmeal & Oil Company, Span Fish Meal, Haris Fish Meal, Mangalore Fish Meal and Oil Company, Indian Fish Meal and Oil Products, Sharief Marine Products, Mangalore Marine Products and United Marine Products, all in Ullal, and Bawa Fishmeal and Oil Company and H.K. Bawa Fish Meal, both in Mukka.2
Neighbors of the Blueline Foods plants have complained about the stench. “I understand you are running a business to make profit, but why are you causing trouble,” wrote one local resident who said they had been living in the neighborhood near unit II of Blueline Foods for 30 years in a Google review in 2023. “The smell becomes unbearable at times!”3 The company also seems to have had tax problems. In August 2024, after income tax regulators from the Indian government had faulted the company for violations tied to Section 153A in The Income Tax Act, the company appealed the decision but was blocked.4 Blueline Foods owns at least three fishmeal plants in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. The company has been operating since 1968.
Blueline Foods Pvt Ltd Unit I:
Blueline Foods Pvt Ltd Unit III:
Blueline Foods Pvt Ltd Unit IV:
Blueline Foods failed to respond to a request for comment.5