HYDE COUNTY — An unknown substance at a Hyde County business caused unnecessary alarm last week.

On June 15, an employee at a bean-crushing plant, along N.C. Highway 45 outside of Ponzer, spotted a strange substance in a scrap bin.

Employees contacted a sister plant in Pantego, which in turn alerted authorities at Beaufort County Emergency Management Services. After learning the substance was found in Hyde County, however, the investigation was turned back over to Hyde authorities, according to Hyde County Sheriff Guire Cahoon.

Cahoon said he received a final report Wednesday, stating the substance was of no danger to the public.

According to a press release, the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health conducted tests, the results of which stated the substance “did not contain chemical or biological agents.”

Cahoon said the State Laboratory released its preliminary findings on June 17, but did not give the final report before first testing a culture, which was grown over a period of five days. Hyde County Sheriff’s Office officially closed the investigation as of Wednesday.

The lab declined to specifically identify the type of substance to Hyde County authorities, according to Cahoon.

Although it was a false alarm, Cahoon said authorities are careful to treat every situation like this as potentially dangerous until the public health concerns are ruled out. He said he didn’t know why the employee was alarmed, but it was likely something that unusual in the context of a scrap bin.

“Everything worked out all right,” Cahoon said.