In 2009, Tyson Foods Inc. was ordered by a U.S. District Court in Arkansas to pay $500,000 for "willfully violating worker safety regulations that led to a worker's death" in its River Valley Animal Foods (RVAF) plant in Texarkana, Arkansas4. The plant utilized high-pressure steam processors called hydrolyzers to convert the poultry feather into feather meal. Decomposition of poultry feathers produces hydrogen sulfide gas. A maintenance employee who worked near the hydrolyzers — which required frequent adjustment and replacement — was killed and two others were treated from exposure to this gas.