COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio EPA official says creamy ranch dressing mixed with sewage and storm runoff in the flooded basements of at least 10 Columbus homes.

Sewage from T. Marzetti Co., a Columbus-based salad dressing
maker, overwhelmed the Columbus storm-sewer system during heavy
rains last week. A resident reported the problem to the state's
Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday.

The EPA's Michael Dalton says the agency suspects that the factory's pipes merge with nearby homes, but aren't wide enough to
handle extra water during a storm.

Neighbors have complained to the EPA over the last 30 years about discharges from the city sewage line that serves Marzetti into a creek.

Lowell Berry, the company's director of human resources, said
Wednesday that the company had no comment.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)