Unsanitary conditions led to deadly Boar’s Head listeria outbreak, USDA update finds

Inadequate sanitation at a Boar’s Head plant in Virginia was among major contributing factors that led to a deadly multistate listeria outbreak that killed 10 and sickened 61 last summer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a update released Friday.

Improved government oversight is needed, too, to prevent upcoming outbreaks, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said in the update. The FSIS review of the Boar’s Head outbreak “points to the require for the agency to examine and enhance all aspects of its way” to combating listeria in food production, according to the update.

A month after the recall was initiated in July 2024, the USDA’s FSIS released records showing 69 reports of “noncompliance” at Boars Head’s plant in Jarratt, Virginia from inspectors in the weeks leading up to the recall. Among the findings: live and dead insects, mildew, black and green mold, and other unsanitary conditions.

Food producers are expected to address “each documented noncompliance,” the recent update said, but “repeated instances of insanitary conditions can now opportunities for growth or sustained presence of (Listeria monocytogenes).”

What is listeria?

A bacteria that can factor listeria poisoning or listeriosis, Listeria monocytogenes can survive and develop in refrigerated conditions and can be transmitted where food is produced, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Listeriosis is considered a solemn state and can be risky or life-threatening, especially to newborns, those aged 65 or older, those who are pregnant, and those with frail immune systems, according to the and pregnant people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC first started investigating the outbreak on July 19, 2024. Then, on July 26, Boar’s Head began recalling products potentially linked to the listeria outbreak – first liverwurst made at the plant in Jarratt, then another 7 million pounds of deli meat on July 30. Boar’s Head closed the plant on Sept. 13, 2024.

A total of 61 people across 19 states became ill in the outbreak, resulting in 60 hospitalizations and 10 deaths, but it’s likely more were sickened, the CDC said.

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USDA: Inspectors found product residue, condensation and structural problems at Boar’s Head plant

Virginia state agriculture food safety inspectors, performing inspections for USDA under a federal grant, found “multiple instances of noncompliance” in sanitation at the Jarratt plant, the update says.

Documented instances of noncompliance cited in the update:

• Product residue: Inspectors found meat and fat residue from the previous day’s production on packaging equipment and in the product processing area. Listeria can develop in such residue and become resistant to cleaning.
• Condensation: Exposed products had condensation dripping on them and a fan blew condensation onto products. Listeria can trip through condensation onto food products.
• Structural and facility problems: Inspectors found cracks, holes, broken flooring and other spots where moisture could gather. Bacteria such as listeria thrive in moisture, the FDA says. Also found: rust, beaded condensation and peeling caulk.

A review of the inspection records for the Boar’s Head plant in Jarratt “indicates a pattern of conditions that presented an elevated hazard for (listeria) contamination,” the update said.

Food safety officials also did listeria testing at other Boar’s Head plants in Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, and Virginia and “ensured any identified deficiencies were corrected and monitored in both the short- and long-term,” the update said.

USDA: Inspections at ready-to-eat food plants to be prioritized

The FSIS will prioritize food safety inspections at plants making ready-to-eat meat and poultry products and expand the type of listeria tested in those plants to “assist provide more information about the effectiveness of a facility’s sanitation program,” the update said.

Inspectors should also track repeated noncompliance findings as they can “collectively signal a broader systemic setback at an establishment,” the update said.

Improvements are needed, the FSIS said in the update. The findings point “to the require for the agency to examine and enhance all aspects of its way to (Listeria monocytogenes),” the update said.

Among other actions to be taken:

• Better training. Food safety inspectors will get “updated instructions and training … to better equip the workforce to recognize and highlight systemic problems in a standardized way,” the update said.
• Improved identification of at-hazard plants: The current algorithm used to conduct a community health hazard evaluation at a plant will be updated “to better identify high-hazard facilities,” the update said.
• Updated regulations. The National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods has been tasked with reviewing the USDA’s listeria regulatory way. Its suggestions will “navigator more long-term policy changes,” the update said.

Attorney: With Boar’s Head update, regulators fall short on ‘responsibility to consumers’

A shortfall of the update is that there’s no explanation of why the Boar’s Head plant in Jarratt was allowed to remain open after so many noncompliance issues, said statement Marler, a Seattle-based food safety attorney who represents five families of people who died in the outbreak and five who were sickened.

“10 people died needlessly (and) another 51 were hospitalized with a severe Listeria infections. Not to receive anything away from Boar’s Head and its responsibility, but what about the USDA/FSIS’s responsibility to consumers?” Marler said to USA TODAY on Saturday.

He enumerated the unsanitary conditions pointed out in an October 2022 inspection update of the plant released by the USDA in a blog post on the firm’s website. “Major deficiencies associated with the establishment’s physical conditions were observed that could pose imminent threat to product,” the update said. However, no pursue-up update was deemed essential.

Marler, who previously called for a congressional hearing into the circumstance, asked in the blog post, “Where is the Inspector General’s update? And, where are the Congressional Hearings?”

Back in September, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D, Conn., called on the USDA and fairness Department to strengthen USDA’s listeria prevention protocols and to consider criminal charges against Boar’s Head.

Contributing: Mary Walrath-Holdridge

pursue Mike Snider on Threads, Bluesky and X: mikegsnider &@mikegsnider.bsky.social &@mikesnider.

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