Fleischmann’s Vinegar Company has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit brought by state environmental regulators alleging its now-shuttered Baltimore factory polluted the Jones Falls.

The settlement, announced Wednesday by the Maryland Department of the Environment, is the second that Fleischmann’s, owned by Ireland-based Kerry Inc., has agreed to pay out this year. In April, Fleischmann’s agreed to pay $1.3 million to resolve a federal lawsuit filed in January 2023 by local nonprofit watchdog Blue Water Baltimore.

The state followed three months later, filing suit against the vinegar maker in Baltimore City Circuit Court.

The cases came after repeated acidic discharges from the facility and fish kills were reported in the Jones Falls, which flows into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

As part of the latest settlement, the state and Fleischmann’s entered into a consent decree that itemizes steps that must be taken to halt any further discharges into the Jones Falls, which runs roughly alongside and under Interstate 83 into the Inner Harbor.

“These terms will help keep our waterways clean and monitor the Jones Falls so it is not contaminated with harmful pollutants,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said in a news release.

“We appreciate the fact that this company has been a part of Baltimore’s fabric for generations, but pollution from the now-closed facility harms the ecosystem in one of the city’s major waterways,” MDE Secretary Serena McIlwain said in the news release.

Representatives of Kerry Inc. did not respond Wednesday afternoon to a request for comment.

McIlwain credited the agency’s partnership with Blue Water Baltimore and its legal representative, the Chesapeake Legal Alliance, for their work on the case.

The state said its investigation began after a fish kill in September 2021. MDE twice conducted dye testing that confirmed liquids from the vinegar plant near Cold Spring Lane would reach the Jones Falls.

Fleischmann’s stopped making vinegar in the facility in December and subsequently decommissioned it.

According to MDE, the consent decree requires Fleischmann’s to conduct weekly testing at points along the Jones Falls; to investigate the possible sources of discharges and remediate as feasible, including possibly demolishing the facility; and to eliminate any other sources of pollution on the property.

The factory was built in the 1880s and previously was a rye whiskey distillery, Blue Water Baltimore has said.

The settlement is almost entirely a $1.1 million civil penalty, payable to MDE.

Baltimore Sun reporter Christine Condon contributed to this article.