According to officials, a Boar’s Head processing facility that closed due to a catastrophic, multistate listeria epidemic last year will reopen in the upcoming months.
In 19 states, the outbreak connected to the Jarratt, Virginia, factory infected over 60 individuals and claimed 10 lives, including two in New York and one in New Jersey. Additionally, it led the company to permanently stop producing liverwurst and recall almost 7 million pounds of deli items.
When a sample of Boar’s Head liverwurst from a Maryland shop tested positive for the bacteria in July 2024, an inquiry into the health emergency—the biggest listeria outbreak in the US since 2011—began.
The well-known deli meat supplier declared in September that it would permanently close [the Jarratt] site because of the severity of the outbreak that started there. The U.S. Department of Agriculture terminated Boar’s Head’s operations and revoked the federal marks of inspection necessary for the company to function, citing the company’s failure to maintain sanitary conditions.
However, USDA officials earlier this week announced that after a comprehensive evaluation of the plant, the restriction was lifted on July 18.
According to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service authorities on Wednesday, the facility is fully in accordance with the rules and procedures established for the safe handling and processing of food, and the major problems that caused the suspension have been completely fixed.
Boar’s Head plants in Arkansas, Indiana, and other parts of Virginia, however, have recently been flagged for some of the same problems that caused the outbreak last year, according to documents retrieved through a Freedom of Information Act request.
According to the paper, inspectors documented numerous incidents of noncompliance during the previous seven months, including staff members who neglected to wear hairnets or wash their hands, waste receptacles overflowing with trash onto the manufacturing floor, and drains clogged with meat.
Using News Wire Services
