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USDA Releases Final Report on Boar’s Head Listeria Outbreak

Jan. 12, 2025
Longstanding poor sanitation efforts at the Jarratt., Va., plant remain the cause of last summer’s outbreak, which killed 10 people and sickened 61 more.

The reasons were apparent from the outset, but USDA on Jan. 10 released its official and final report on the causes of last summer’s listeria monocytogenes outbreak linked to Boar’s Head’s Jarratt, Va., plant, which resulted in the deaths of 10 people and infections of 61 more.

Poor sanitation generally was the culprit, with the agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) noting multiple violations of food safety protocols, including the presence of mold, insects and unsanitary conditions.

The outbreak stretched from May to November 2024 and led to the recall of more than 7 million lbs. of deli meats and the indefinite closure of the Jarratt plant. Eventually, contamination of a line producing liverwurst was pinpointed.

FSIS had conducted numerous inspections of the plant over the years and regularly found violations. “While sanitary conditions were required to be restored for each documented noncompliance, repeated instances of insanitary conditions can present opportunities for growth or sustained presence of [listeria],” the report said.

As we reported earlier, after viewing FSIS inspection reports, an inspector had the covering of a pump removed and ‘an obvious odor filled the department.’ Inside was ‘heavy, discolored meat build-up.’ That same report noted meat overspray and fat on walls, rusting equipment and standing water.

In one of the more recent inspections [July 27, 2024, a day after the first recall] an inspector noted water dripping from a ceiling that was blown by a fan onto uncovered hams. Other inspections noted dead flies floating atop a vat of vinegar, dirty floors and mold.

Boar’s Head subsequently hired Frank Yiannas, a former deputy commissioner at FDA, as its interim chief food safety officer.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.

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