Local deli weighs in on listeria outbreak; officials urge public to be diligent

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A Bernalillo County resident is among nine people who’ve died as a result of the largest nationwide listeria outbreak tied to deli meat in over a decade.

Now, some of New Mexico’s small, local delis are doing what they can to reassure customers their businesses are safe.

“This has, I mean, it has been a shock for us. We’ve never had any problems when it comes to recalled products for any of our distributors.”

Sarah Camuglia has been working at Tully’s Italian Deli and Meats on San Mateo. Like dozens of other delis across New Mexico, Tully’s is now dealing with the fallout of a nationwide listeria outbreak.

The longtime local business had to remove a list of recalled products made by the national, well-known “Boar’s Head” brand.

“We were notified within this 24 hours of this recall our main distributor contacted us. We had pulled everything that were items that had been affected. We now have substitutes for those items that have been infected. They were really on top of things here in Albuquerque,” said Camuglia.

The recall only forced them to pull “Cappy Ham” products.

“That’s what we wanna reassure the public: we are a safe facility. We have taken the right steps here to make sure our products are going out in a safe matter.”

So far, Tully’s said that they haven’t felt any negative impacts on their businesses.

Meanwhile, after at least one death tied to the outbreak in New Mexico, the New Mexico Department of Health is urging New Mexicans to take this recall seriously.

“They should make sure that they throw away any contaminated products and then thoroughly clean,” said NMDOH Foodborne Team Lead Sarah Davis.

A full list of recalled products can be found by clicking here.

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