More inspection documents showing food safety violations at the Boar’s Head production facility in Jarrett, VA, have come to light. A deadly outbreak of Listeria infections in 2024 was traced to products from the plant.
The outbreak, which ran from January to July in 2024, sickened 61 people across 19 states. Ten people died. As a result, Boar’s Head recalled more than 7 million pounds of products and temporally closed the plant in Virginia. The company permanently ceased production of liverwurst nationwide.
Previously released documents from USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service showed multiple safety violations that constituted violation of federal laws at the plant. The plant includes 219,182 square feet of workspace and was built in 1974.
Additional documents show that the dozens and dozens of problems date back to at least 2019. Repeated instances of standing and dripping water were cited through the years. It is known that Listeria thrives in wet conditions.
Despite the outbreak, a report generated on Oct. 22, 2024, the FSIS said “No consumer complaints have been documented for this establishment for the past year.”
The same report says inspectors documented the following issues:
Product residue found on food contact surfaces and non-food contact surfaces during pre-op inspections (7/19/24, 7/6/24, 6/28/24, 5/20/24, 4/19/24, 3/22/24, 3/14/24, 2/29/24, 2/3/24)Product residue from previous shifts found on food contact surfaces during operational SSOP inspections (6/7/24)Insects – in the Cure Cooler (7/17/24), in the receiving dock (7/17/24), dead flies on an opened barrel of distilled vinegar (7/12/24), 2 live flies in vat in raw side entry area (6/28/24), green flies circling denatured product in Inedible Room 1 (6/26/24), flies and gnat like insects in the pickle vat pump out room including flies going in and out of four vats of pickle solution (6/10/24), ants and flying insects in inedible storage(6/10/24), 7 ladybugs, 1 beetle like insect, and 1 cockroach like insect in cure main cooler door (6/10/24)Insanitary conditions – green algal growth in standing water on the receiving dock (7/17/24), black mold on wall caulk in the pickle storage annex area (7/12/24), garbage and product debris on floors (6/26/24, 6/10/24, 3/15/24, 2/11/24), dirty inedible strainers in close proximity to clean strainers in the bologna kitchen (6/28/24), Product residue on pickle vats in Stitch Pump #1 department (6/1/24), black mold on steel vats in Stitch Pump #1 department (6/1/24), stainless steel sticks used for hanging product placed in inedible containers or left on floors (3/15/24), rancid smell in raw receiving cooler and cardboard combos heavily saturated with blood and leaking blood on floor (2/22/24), product residue on doors and door frames for Smokehouses #27, 28, and 29 (2/7/24)Water Leaks – water dripping from an area of the ceiling that had previously been caulked in the smokehouse alley near Smokehouses #23-29 (7/6/24),leaking hot water pipe in inedible storage (6/10/24)Dripping Condensation – left wet spots on bags of dextrose (7/12/24), in the packaging department (7/9/24)Not labeling inedible product or denaturing it, and placing it in containers with the mark of inspection still on them (4/24/24, 4/8/24, 2/21/24, 2/8/24)Employee good manufacturing practices issues — contractor wearing frock outside and not washing hands on re-entry (2/22/24)
Portions of all the reports were redacted:
The (b) (4) designation is used for redacted portions of government documents.
A report issued on Oct. 24, 2022, says the most recent food safety assessment prior to it was conducted in February 2019. Many of the problems found at the plant in 2022 and 2024 were listed then.
Insanitary conditions the 2022 inspection included holes in walls, damaged floors, loose caulking, product on floors, green mold and rust.
“With the exception of the non-compliances discussed above, the establishment was following their written program that was adequately supported, therefore there were no additional food safety concerns,” according to the 2022 report.
The 2022 report said during the observations of the processing operations non-compliances were observed for the pre-operational and operational sanitation programs.
“Major defiiciencies associated with the establishment’s physical conditions were observed that could cause imminent threat to product,” the inspector wrote.
Problems included: rusty pipes and brackets throughout the plant, condensation falling directly onto product, trash on the floor of production areas, holes in walls and floors, exposed insulation, peeling paint and rust, numerous areas and production equipment with product buildup and residue.
In a July 31, 2024, report, the FSIS inspector wrote that there was a risk of employees spreading Listeria through the post lethality processing environment.
“Although employees typically work on one line, when needed they may move between lines to help. Your establishment does not have a written plan to describe employee practices and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) when moving between lines,” according to the report.
In a 23 page report covering June 1, 2023, through July 29, 2024, the FSIS inspectors repeatedly reported the same problems, including: food contact racks had residue from previous product; brown material speared and dripping in product area and on tubs of product resulting in only eight pounds of product being flagged for destruction; live and dead bugs; and blood in puddles on the floor.