10th death reported in Boar's Head deli meat listeria outbreak
By By JONEL ALECCIA
AP Health Writer,
23 days ago
A 10th person has died in the listeria outbreak that shuttered a Boar's Head deli meat plant, federal health officials said Wednesday.
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 U.S. 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.
This sign marks the entrance of the Boar's Head processing plant that was tied to a deadly food poisoning outbreak Thursday Aug. 29, 2024, in Jarratt, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Sarasota, Florida-based company announced on Sept. 13 that it was closing the Jarratt plant and discontinuing production of liverwurst. The moves came after inspection reports revealed problems including mold, insects, dripping water and meat and fat residue on walls, floors and equipment dating back at least two years.
Boar's Head faces multiple lawsuits related to the deaths and illnesses.
The plant hasn't operated since late July, when officials with the U.S. Agriculture Department suspended inspections and the firm recalled more than 7 million pounds of deli meats because of potential contamination.
Boar's Head officials have said they "regret and deeply apologize" for contamination in their products.
Listeria infections are caused by a hardy type of bacteria that can survive and even thrive during refrigeration. An estimated 1,600 people get listeria food poisoning each year and about 260 die, according to the CDC. Infections can be hard to pinpoint because symptoms may occur up to 10 weeks after eating contaminated food.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Food recalls frequently generate headlines and public concern because of their associated safety risks and health hazards. To help protect consumers, government officials have developed a system of regulation and oversight—a shared responsibility of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture—to identify hazardous products and issue recalls to minimize those risks to consumers. Recalls are a nationwide concern, but some states are more vulnerable than others. To calculate which states have been most impacted by food recalls in recent years, researchers combined data on recall events from both the USDA and the FDA for the years 2020–2024, then ranked states accordingly.
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This sign marks the entrance of the Boar's Head processing plant that was tied to a deadly food poisoning outbreak Thursday Aug. 29, 2024, in Jarratt, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
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Steven Bennett
22d ago
makes you wonder how they got by for so long with the deployable conditions there before someone died
John Jane
23d ago
I don’t see how boars head can begin to turn this around. Millions of people including myself will probably never consider their meat products ever again.
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