DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – The people who live around the Wagner Ford/Needmore Road neighborhood say a white, gritty residue has fallen from the sky two times since the beginning of January.

They’re concerned for their businesses and the health of the people who live there.



It’s a mystery they want solved before it happens again.

Last month, Scott Davidson came back to his auto repair shop after enjoying a weekend off. To his surprise, he found a mysterious, white substance all over his property.

“It was definitely white specks,” said Davidson

Davidson and his wife took a video that shows nearly every vehicle in his lot covered by the white, gritty, material.

“It concerns me. Plus, I don’t want my customers to drop their car off here, especially a darker car and all of a sudden see white spots everywhere, because they don’t know if it’s over spray paint or something like that,” said Davidson.

He isn’t alone with his concerns. In fact, 2 NEWS Investigates was contacted by other people in the area asking us to get answers about the residue on their cars, and they all had the same questions: What is it and where was it coming from?

“At least tell us what it is..tell us it’s not harmful on paint jobs or anything like that..customers’ cars, buildings, lungs,” said Davidson.

2 NEWS Investigates started asking questions and traced the problem back to the corn milling plant across the street, owned by Cargill.



We reached out and a spokeswoman confirmed they’re looking into complaints. She also said in a statement they regret any inconvenience it may have caused the people around them.

They’re providing many of them with free car washes, but these residents and business owners want more than that. They want to know if this white grit is dangerous to their health and a plan to prevent it from happening again.

“You always see smoke coming out of the stacks and I know the EPA regulates most of that, what did get out of there and land on vehicles? That’s what we want to know,” said Davidson.

That’s a question the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency or RAPCA wanted to know too.



They have started an investigation of their own after getting the same complaints we did.



Investigators there have been in contact with Cargill to find the source.

Cargill tested the substance and RAPCA confirms, it’s sodium sulfate, a type of salt.

According to RAPCA Supervisor Jennifer Marsee, it’s a substance easily dissolved in water that can be a mild irritant.

Natalie: “Is it dangerous to breathe in?”



Jennifer Marsee: “Probably in large amounts it could be. At this point, the good news is it seems the material is not necessarily hazardous to human health; hasn’t caused anyone any ill effects that we are aware of.”

We found Cargill is permitted to emit certain things into the air but they’re closely monitored by the EPA and RAPCA.



Marsee said they have inspected the plant since the complaints and determined Cargill is still in compliance with their air permits.

We now know what this is, but there’s still another mystery: how did it get here?

“That is still part of the investigation. As far as we know Cargill doesn’t know as yet,” said Marsee.

RAPCA has given Cargill two weeks to figure that out.



But one thing is for sure. This salt should not just be falling from the sky onto neighboring cars and businesses.

Natalie: “Just so I’m clear, this material shouldn’t be in the air coming from this building?”



“It should not be coming from Cargill,” said Marsee.

We will be checking back in with RAPCA after those two weeks are up.



If they find out Cargill is out of line with what they’re permitted to omit, they can take enforcement action.



We’ll let you know what happens.

“Cargill Dayton has received complaints that a light residue came from its facility on Jan. 2 and Jan.18 and coated some vehicles.

Cargill is investigating these complaints and regrets any inconvenience it may have caused its neighboring residents and businesses.

Our testing indicates that the residue is a salt that is highly dissolvable in water.

Cargill has provided complimentary car washes at a local gas station for those impacted.” – Cargill statement