Concerns Raised Over Boar’s Head Plant Before Listeria Outbreak
Two years prior to a devastating listeria outbreak, federal inspectors issued alarming warnings regarding the safety conditions at a Boar’s Head processing plant located in Jarratt, Virginia. Investigations revealed extensive issues, including significant rust, deli meats being exposed to damp ceilings, visible green mold, and numerous holes in the facility’s walls.
Despite these serious findings, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) chose not to implement stringent corrective measures against the plant. Such measures could have included anything from a formal warning letter to a complete suspension of operations. In the years that followed, additional inspections continued to uncover many of the same problems, yet the facility remained operational, processing large quantities of various meat products, including liverwurst.
Tragically, genome sequencing conducted by public health officials in both New York and Maryland linked a strain of listeria found in Boar’s Head liverwurst to the bacteria responsible for illnesses and fatalities in consumers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this evidence pointed to a direct connection between the contaminated products and the serious health risks faced by individuals who consumed them.
In response to the outbreak, Boar’s Head recalled its liverwurst in late July. Shortly thereafter, the company expanded the recall to encompass over 3,500 tons of various meat items, including ham and other products produced at the Jarratt facility, among several of its operational sites.
Currently, production at the meat processing center has been temporarily halted. Boar’s Head has stated that it is in the process of disinfecting the plant and investigating the source of the suspected contamination. Unfortunately, the outbreak has led to the deaths of nine elderly individuals and resulted in dozens of hospitalizations, marking it as one of the most severe listeria outbreaks witnessed in recent years.
