Meat Recall Update: Boar’s Head Plant Closes Amid Listeria Outbreak

Boar’s Head is shutting down its deli meat plant in Virginia linked to a deadly listeria outbreak that has killed nine people across the country.
The company said in a statement posted to its website Friday that the plant in Jarratt, Virginia, will be “indefinitely closed.” The company is also permanently discontinuing its production of liverwurst, which was identified as the root cause of the contamination.
“It pains us to impact the livelihoods of hundreds of hard-working employees,” the statement said regarding the plant’s closure. “We do not take lightly our responsibility as one of the area’s largest employers. But, under these circumstances, we feel that a plant closure is the most prudent course.”
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A spokesperson for Boar’s Head told Newsweek on Friday via email that “eligible team members” impacted by the plant’s closure were provided “with financial packages and benefits, as well as resources and assistance to help them find new opportunities.”
The union that represented the workers at the Jarratt plant, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 Union, also released a statement Friday, calling the closing of the plant “unfortunate.”
“Thankfully these workers have a union they can count on to always have their backs,” the union added. “We appreciate the extraordinary efforts Boar’s Head has made to keep our members on the job as long as possible and to ensure everyone is taken care of during this process.”
Boar’s Head first issued a recall of its products in late July after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and health officials traced the company’s deli meats to several listeria infections. Since then, 57 people across 18 states have been hospitalized because of the outbreak, and nine others have died.
Records released last month showed that government inspectors logged 69 “noncompliance” issues at the Jarratt plant within the past year. Among the violations logged between August 2023 and 2024 were reports of “heavy discolored meat buildup” and “meat overspray on walls and large pieces of meat on the floor.”
“In response to the inspection records and noncompliance reports at the Jarratt plant, we will not make excuses,” the company’s Friday statement said.
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Boar’s Head said it’s also taking steps to enhance its food safety and quality measures in light of the outbreak, including appointing a new chief food safety and quality assurance officer who will report directly to the company’s president.
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Listeria infections are caused by a type of bacteria that often remains in the gut and leads to food poisoning symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting. Listeria is the third leading cause of death from foodborne illness in the U.S., the CDC says, and approximately 1,600 infections and around 260 deaths occur annually. Symptoms of the infection can manifest soon after consuming a contaminated product but can take up to 10 weeks to develop.
The family members of an 88-year-old man who died after being diagnosed with listeria allegedly linked to a Boar’s Head product have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the company. The victim, Gunter Morgenstein, is a Holocaust survivor and was diagnosed in July with listeria and sepsis after consuming a liverwurst product produced by Boar’s Head.
Ron Simon, attorney for Morgenstein’s family, said in a statement, “Through this lawsuit and others, we will make sure that all listeria victims are fairly compensated for their losses. We will find out exactly how this happened and will force Boar’s Head to make sure it does not happen again.”
Update 09/13/24, 7:13 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional comment from Boar’s Head.