Boar’s Head company officials and federal officials are getting their ducks in a row in anticipation of the reopening of the deli meat production plant behind a deadly Listeria outbreak in 2024.
The family-owned operation is a billion dollar a year business that has been producing deli meats for more than 100 years.
The Boar’s Head plant in Jarrett, VA, was closed down a year ago when the company recalled more than 7 million pounds of deli meats linked to a multistate outbreak of Listeria infections that sickened 61 people across 19 states, killing 10. Sick people’s lab samples were collected from May 29, 2024, to Sept. 13, 2024.
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) investigated the Jarrett, VA, plant and found documentation of problems there.
“The FSIS review of records and data from the Boar’s Head Jarrett, VA, production plant indicated a pattern of conditions that presented an elevated risk for Listeria monocytogenes contamination,” the FSIS reported in 2024.
The plant was under the jurisdiction of the USDA, but the federal department had contracted with state inspection services to oversee operations at the Boar’s Head plant. There are such agreements with nine states.
Although it has not been made public when exactly the Boar’s Head plant will resume production, one thing is clear: Federal inspectors will be on the scene instead of their state counterparts.
The change aims to “ensure the establishment consistently and effectively implements its corrected food safety plans,” USDA officials said in a statement. It calls for stricter enforcement if lapses occur.
As part of the reopening plan, the FSIS has implemented an enhanced verification program that will run for at least 90 days once operations resume. This includes intensified Listeria testing and daily monitoring.
Whether the increased monitoring will be enough to make sure safe product is produced at the plant remains to be seen. During its records review in 2024, the FSIS found repeated instances where food safety lapses were discovered but operations were allowed to continue.
Findings related to the production plant
The FSIS reviewed inspection documents and establishment sampling data from January 2022 to September 2024 and conducted in-person observations as part of its review of the Jarrett facility. Based on records and observations, FSIS identified several factors that may have contributed to the outbreak.
A notable contributing factor was the Jarrett facility’s inadequate sanitation practices.
“Observations by government inspection personnel documented in noncompliance records demonstrated multiple instances of noncompliance with Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures and Sanitation Performance Standards. While sanitary conditions were required to be restored for each documented noncompliance, repeated instances of insanitary conditions can present opportunities for growth or sustained presence of Listeria monocytogenes,” the FSIS reported.
Documented instances of noncompliance included:
Product Residue: Inspectors identified the presence of meat and fat residue from the previous day’s production on equipment, including packaging equipment and in the ready-to-eat (RTE) processing area during pre-operational sanitation checks. Residue can provide a substrate for Listeria monocytogenes to survive and grow in the food processing environment and form biofilms, which can become more resistant to cleaning regimens. Biofilms are thin layers of bacteria that can form on equipment and other surfaces — similar to plaque on teeth. Once biofilms form, they must be removed by scrubbing or other mechanical action.
Condensation: Inspectors identified multiple instances of condensation in the RTE environment including dripping condensate on exposed product and a fan blowing condensate directly on products.
Structural and facility problems: Inspectors observed facility and structural-related issues, including cracks, holes and broken flooring, that could hold moisture and contribute to wet conditions. Additional conditions documented included rust, beaded condensation and peeling caulk.
Review of the other Boar’s Head facilities
On Sept. 5, 2024, FSIS broadened the scope of its review of the Listeria monocytogenes illness outbreak to include a review of all FSIS-regulated establishments owned and operated under the Boar’s Head Provisions Company corporate umbrella. Inspectors conducted food safety assessments at other Boar’s Head establishments located in Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, and Virginia. As part of the assessments, FSIS also conducted intensified verification sampling for Listeria monocytogenes at these Boar’s Head facilities, and ensured any identified deficiencies were corrected and monitored in both the short- and long-term, according to the FSIS report.
More recent inspections showed ongoing problems at the other Boar’s Head operations.
The FSIS reported in 2024 that its investigation yielded several key areas for improvement including those related to sampling, inspector training, oversight of plants staffed by state inspectors, and the future of the agency’s Listeria regulatory policy.
As outlined in the agency’s Dec. 17, 2024, announcement, many of these new policies and practices have already been put in place.
FSIS is equipping its personnel with the training and tools to recognize and respond to systemic food safety issues, through:
• Updated instructions and training for food safety inspectors to better equip the workforce to recognize and highlight systemic problems in a standardized way.
• Prioritized in-depth food safety reviews at ready-to-eat meat and poultry facilities. In fiscal year 2025, reviews are to provide information about the plants individually and collectively. FSIS will publicly share findings and trends from these assessments that result in any future policy or process changes to target this microorganism.
• Updated protocols for food safety assement follow-up. FSIS field supervisors will conduct in-person, follow-up visits when systemic issues are identified during an FSA.
Revised establishment-review alert criteria. One significant criterion used to guide a district office’s decisions is a monthly list of facilities with higher rates of noncompliance related to public health that is generated using an algorithm. Using additional data from the new weekly verification of Listeria monocytogenes related risk factors, FSIS intends to update its algorithm and criteria to better identify high-risk facilities.
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