In May of this year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) determined a listeriosis outbreak traced to Boar’s Heads deli meat products.
Listeriosis (also referred to as listeria) is an infection caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. It occurs when contaminated food (in this case, deli meat) is eaten. Mild cases can result in nausea, diarrhea, and other flu-like symptoms. More severe cases can result in blood poisoning, meningitis, and death.
Cases of listeria have been traced back to the deli meat company since May, including over 50 illnesses. Now, a tenth fatal infection has been reported.
At least 59 people in 19 states have been sickened by the bacteria first detected in liverwurst made at the Jarratt, Virginia, plant. Illnesses were reported between late May and late August, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. All of those who fell ill were hospitalized.The latest fatality was reported in New York, bringing the total deaths to two each in New York and South Carolina and one each in Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee and New Mexico.
Over 4000 tons of meat have been recalled.
The CDC is continuing to urge people to check inspection labels before consuming any Boar’s Head products, since some have sell by dates up to October 2024.Recalled products have the codes EST. 12612 or P-12612 inside the USDA mark of inspection on the product labels.The CDC recommends people who bought the affected products throw them away or contact stores about returns.Customers are urged to clean their refrigerators, containers, and surfaces that may have touched sliced deli meats.The health agency previously recommended not eating deli meats unless they were reheated to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit – a temperature high enough to kill the bacteria.Keeping the meats cold does not eliminate listeria.
Earlier this month, Boar’s Head announced it would indefinitely shut down the troubled Virginia deli meat plant where the contaminated deli meats were processed. The plant had a long list of health violations.
Two years ago, inspectors conducted an extensive review and concluded that conditions at the plant — rife with mold, rust and holes in walls — posed an “imminent threat” to food safety. That finding could have resulted in a warning letter or even a suspension of production there, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture did not take strict measures and allowed the plant to stay open until this outbreak forced a suspension in production in late July.New federal records released on Friday reveal that inspectors who went into the plant after the outbreak found the company had inadequate controls to prevent the bacterial contamination from spreading and had no written plans for employees to safeguard against cross-contamination.They tested for listeria in various places and found one positive result on equipment used to move ready-to-eat products. The findings were in an area that food-safety experts consider critical to keep clean: the zone of the plant where food has passed through the cooking step and is on its way to delivery trucks.
The company is also permanently ending its line of liverwurst.
“Our investigation has identified the root cause of the contamination as a specific production process that only existed at the Jarratt (Virginia) facility and was used only for liverwurst,” the company said in a statement.”With this discovery, we have decided to permanently discontinue liverwurst.”
It must also be noted that a former sanitation manager at the firm’s Virginia plant claims he was fired after he warned about lax health and safety standards at the facility.
Terrence Boyce — who has nearly two decades of experience as a supervisor at food plants — was hired in 2023 for a newly created position at the Jarratt, Va., plant amid a food safety audit by federal regulators, Boyce told The Post.“The government found a bunch of deficiencies or deviations and I guess I was brought in as a preventive and a corrective measure,” Boyce said.But when the sanitation veteran began to speak up and recommend certain changes, he lost his job, he claims.
The company now faces at least seven separate lawsuits related to this outbreak. Some claimants are asking for damages as high as $5 million.
One has to wonder why the food safety violations were not addressed, and follow-up and more robust citations and corrective actions were not mandated by the inspectors who are supposed to look out for the public interest.
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