Boar”s Head Will Close Virginia Plant Linked to Listeria-Tainted Deli Meats

FRIDAY, Sept. 13, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Boar”s Head announced Friday that its Jarratt, Va. deli meat manufacturing plant, found to be the source of a deadly outbreak of listeria infections, will be closed indefinitely.

Boar”s Head added that it also believes it has located the source of contamination.

“Our investigation has identified the root cause of the contamination as a specific production process that only existed at the Jarratt facility and was used only for liverwurst. With this discovery, we have decided to permanently discontinue liverwurst,” the company said in a statement released Friday.

As of Aug. 28, the death toll from listeria linked to tainted Boar”s Head deli meats had risen to nine, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention update.

Deaths have now occurred in Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Fifty-seven people have been hospitalized with severe listeria illness tied to the outbreak.

It”s now the largest listeria outbreak reported in the United States since one linked to tainted cantaloupes in 2011, the CDC noted.

The expanded recall now includes 71 products made between May 10 and July 29 under the Boar’s Head and Old Country brand names.

Some of the suspect product could still be in family refrigerators, since some of the products had sell dates stretching into October.

“Everyone should check their homes for any remaining recalled Boar’s Head products since they can have long a shelf-life,” the CDC said. “Look for “EST. 12612” or “P-12612″ inside the USDA mark of inspection on the product labels.”

The closure of the Jarratt plant comes after numerous citations from the USDA”s Food Safety and Inspection Service over the past two years.

On July 30, the recall of Boars Head deli meats broadened to include an additional 7 million pounds of products, because they may also have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.

In a letter from FSIS to Boars Head dated July 31, the agency said it was ordering the suspension of operations at the Jarratt plant due to repeat failures by the company “to maintain sanitary conditions.”

“Product may have been prepared, packed or held under unsanitary conditions, whereby product may have become contaminated with filth or whereby product may have been rendered injurious to health,” the FSIS letter states.

According to CBS News, records released by FSIS showed 69 instances of “noncompliance” noted by the agency at the Jarratt plant over the past year.

Mold and mildew were found at sinks used by plant employees to wash their hands, on the outside of steel vats, and in holding coolers between the site”s smokehouses.

In other spots around the plant, pooling or leaking water was seen, including one puddle with “a green algal growth” and condensation found to be “dripping over product being held,” CBS News reported.