Olfactory assault: Spoiled meat from abandoned shop leaves Ogden neighborhood to contend with odor
Ryan Aston, Standard-Examiner
Mountain West Meats in Ogden, photographed on Friday, July 25, 2025.OGDEN — In Hamlet, Marcellus utters the phrase “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” after the ghostly visage of the titular prince’s murdered father appears at Elsinore. Something is rotten in Ogden City, too, at Mountain West Meats near 37th Street and Quincy Avenue. There are no ghosts or hidden conspiracies to assume the throne — just unrefrigerated meat.
For several weeks, nearby residents have reported a foul odor emanating from the butcher shop. According to Ogden City Communications Director Mike McBride, the city was notified of the issue in June, and an Ogden City Code Services team was eventually sent to the property.
“When the odor would increase, they would call, our team would go out and, eventually, they got to a point where they knew that it was coming from there because they had visually inspected flies,” McBride told the Standard-Examiner.
McBride explained that the business had essentially been abandoned and its power cut off, causing the meat on site to spoil. Getting into the building to properly assess the situation and begin abatement work would prove difficult, though, as the city struggled to make contact with the owner.
Eventually, legal channels were utilized to gain access to the shop.
“We got to the point where basically we needed to give them a final notice of our intent to abate the property,” McBride said. “So, we had to go through the process to get to that point, but that was done on the 16th of July. Then, the approval for that was given on the 17th.”
Shortly thereafter, Ogden City Fire was called to assess the building’s safety and prepare it for cleanup crews.
“We took our HAZMAT team into the building. They wore their self-contained breathing apparatus and some Tyvek suits, went in there to monitor the air and found that the VOCs — the volatile organic compounds — were high,” Ogden City Fire Chief Mike Slater told the Standard-Examiner. “The oxygen level was low because of all the decomposing meat. So, they went in and made it safe.”
The property is now in the hands of cleanup professionals from Servpro, who have been working in the butcher shop throughout the week. As of Saturday morning, ventilation of the building was ongoing and the rotten smell continued to pervade the neighborhood. However, Slater said that residents can rest easy knowing a return to normalcy is nearing.
“Servpro is on scene, blowing fresh air inside to make sure that it stays safe for them to go in with respirators and clean up the building,” Slater said. “There’s no threat to the community.”
