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Boar's Head plans to reopen the plant linked to an outbreak that killed 10 people.
A recall notice is posted next to Boar's Head meats that are displayed at a Safeway store on July 31, 2024, in San Rafael, California. Credit: Getty | Justin Sullivan
Congressional lawmakers are skeptical that the Boar's Head deli meat plant at the center of a deadly Listeria outbreak last year will be fit to reopen after recent inspections at three other Boar's Head facilities turned up similarly alarming sanitation problems—including mold, condensation on ceilings, overflowing trash, meat residue caked onto equipment and walls, and employees failing to wash their hands.
In a letter dated September 15, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and nine other Congress members noted reports that Boar's Head plans to reopen the Jarratt, Virginia, facility in the coming months. The plant—and particularly the liverwurst product made there—was determined to be the source of a Listeria outbreak that spanned May to September of last year, sickening at least 61 people across 19 states. Of those 61 people, 60 were hospitalized and 10 died. The company recalled more than 7 million pounds of meat.
Amid the outbreak, it came to light that inspectors with the US Department of Agriculture had found dozens of stomach-turning sanitation violations at the plant, including mold, condensation dripping on meats, insects, and puddles of blood.
Boar's Head responded with a vow to never make liverwurst again and claimed to be cleaning up its act—and the Jarratt facility, which was shut down last September amid the outbreak. But, subsequent inspection reports at three of the company's other facilities—ones in Arkansas, Indiana, and a second plant in Virginia—have turned up similar sanitation problems. And some of the alarming inspection reports were as recent as this past June.
"The totality of these issues demonstrate a repeated pattern of food safety negligence that jeopardized Americans’ public health, and sadly, lives were lost," the lawmakers wrote in the letter.
While calling the ongoing, repeated problems "appalling," they said they were "less than confident" that the Jarratt plant could safely reopen.
"It seems your company continues to show a disregard for food safety and for the public health of the American people," they wrote.
The letter was addressed to Boar's Head Chief Operating Officer Larry Helfant. It ends with a request for him to appear before the Congressional Food Safety Caucus—which is chaired by DeLauro—and answer questions about what's going on at the company's facilities. The Congress members gave Helfant until September 26 to respond.
In a statement emailed to Ars Technica, a Boar’s Head spokesperson said:
"In our more than 120-year history, what happened at our Jarratt facility was the first time that such an event occurred. We moved quickly, aggressively and decisively in close collaboration with regulators and leading food safety experts to identify the root cause of the problem and implement enhancements to our food manufacturing nationwide to prevent something like this from ever happening again."
The company did not respond to questions from Ars Technica about the letter from lawmakers or whether Helfant would agree to testify before Congress. The company has also not responded to questions about the problems identified at the other facilities.
This post has been updated to include Boar's Head's statement to Ars Technica.
A recall notice is posted next to Boar's Head meats that are displayed at a Safeway store on July 31, 2024, in San Rafael, California. Credit: Getty | Justin Sullivan
Congressional lawmakers are skeptical that the Boar's Head deli meat plant at the center of a deadly Listeria outbreak last year will be fit to reopen after recent inspections at three other Boar's Head facilities turned up similarly alarming sanitation problems—including mold, condensation on ceilings, overflowing trash, meat residue caked onto equipment and walls, and employees failing to wash their hands.
In a letter dated September 15, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and nine other Congress members noted reports that Boar's Head plans to reopen the Jarratt, Virginia, facility in the coming months. The plant—and particularly the liverwurst product made there—was determined to be the source of a Listeria outbreak that spanned May to September of last year, sickening at least 61 people across 19 states. Of those 61 people, 60 were hospitalized and 10 died. The company recalled more than 7 million pounds of meat.
Amid the outbreak, it came to light that inspectors with the US Department of Agriculture had found dozens of stomach-turning sanitation violations at the plant, including mold, condensation dripping on meats, insects, and puddles of blood.
Boar's Head responded with a vow to never make liverwurst again and claimed to be cleaning up its act—and the Jarratt facility, which was shut down last September amid the outbreak. But, subsequent inspection reports at three of the company's other facilities—ones in Arkansas, Indiana, and a second plant in Virginia—have turned up similar sanitation problems. And some of the alarming inspection reports were as recent as this past June.
"The totality of these issues demonstrate a repeated pattern of food safety negligence that jeopardized Americans’ public health, and sadly, lives were lost," the lawmakers wrote in the letter.
While calling the ongoing, repeated problems "appalling," they said they were "less than confident" that the Jarratt plant could safely reopen.
"It seems your company continues to show a disregard for food safety and for the public health of the American people," they wrote.
The letter was addressed to Boar's Head Chief Operating Officer Larry Helfant. It ends with a request for him to appear before the Congressional Food Safety Caucus—which is chaired by DeLauro—and answer questions about what's going on at the company's facilities. The Congress members gave Helfant until September 26 to respond.
In a statement emailed to Ars Technica, a Boar’s Head spokesperson said:
"In our more than 120-year history, what happened at our Jarratt facility was the first time that such an event occurred. We moved quickly, aggressively and decisively in close collaboration with regulators and leading food safety experts to identify the root cause of the problem and implement enhancements to our food manufacturing nationwide to prevent something like this from ever happening again."
The company did not respond to questions from Ars Technica about the letter from lawmakers or whether Helfant would agree to testify before Congress. The company has also not responded to questions about the problems identified at the other facilities.
This post has been updated to include Boar's Head's statement to Ars Technica.
