Government inspectors documented unsanitary conditions at several Boar\u2019s Head deli meat plants, not just the factory that\u00a0was shut down\u00a0last year after a deadly outbreak of\u00a0listeria poisoning, federal records show.<\/p>\n
Newly released reports from Boar\u2019s Head plants in New Castle, Indiana; Forrest City, Arkansas; and Petersburg, Virginia, described multiple instances of meat and fat residue left on equipment and walls, dripping condensation falling on food, mold, insects and other problems dating back roughly six years. Last May, one inspector documented \u201cgeneral filth\u201d in a room at the Indiana plant.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Agriculture Department released the\u00a0inspection records\u00a0in response to Freedom of Information Act requests from The Associated Press and other news organizations.<\/p>\n
The problems documented at the three factories echo some of the violations found at the Jarratt, Virginia, plant linked to the food poisoning outbreak. The newly released reports describe:<\/p>\n
Boar\u2019s Head officials said in an email Monday that the violations documented in the three factories \u201cdo not meet our high standards.\u201d The company\u2019s remaining plants continue to operate under normal USDA oversight, they added. The Sarasota, Florida-based company has marketed itself for decades as a premier provider of deli meats and cheeses, advertising \u201cexcellence that stands apart in every bite.\u201d<\/p>\n
Records from a fourth Boar\u2019s Head plant in New Holland, Michigan, do not show similar problems.<\/p>\n
Boar\u2019s Head stopped making liverwurst and shuttered its Jarratt, Virginia, plant in September after listeria poisoning tied to the product sickened more than 60 people in 19 states, including 10 who died.<\/p>\n
Health officials in Maryland initially discovered listeria contamination in a package of unopened liverwurst. The company\u00a0recalled more than 7 million pounds\u00a0of ready-to-eat deli meat and poultry sold nationwide. About 2.6 million pounds was eventually recovered, according to the Agriculture Department\u2019s Food Safety and Inspection Service.<\/p>\n
The conditions revealed at the other Boar\u2019s Head plants are \u201creally concerning,\u201d said Thomas Gremillion, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit advocacy group.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s reasonable for some people to decide they don\u2019t want to eat deli meat,\u201d he said. \u201cCompanies like Boar\u2019s Head, they should have to earn consumers\u2019 trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boar\u2019s Head faces multiple lawsuits connected to the outbreak.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes me extremely angry and sad,\u201d said Garett Dorman, whose mother, Linda Dorman, 73, of Oxford, Pennsylvania, died in July after eating Boar\u2019s Head liverwurst. She had cancer, and liverwurst was one of the few foods she would eat, he said. He is suing the company, according to court documents filed by Marler Clark, a Seattle law firm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe Boar\u2019s Head needs to completely revamp their program at all of their facilities,\u201d Dorman said in an email. \u201cBoar\u2019s Head needs to put the welfare of people as their highest priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawmakers including Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Rosa DeLauro have sharply criticized USDA officials for not taking stronger action against the company, despite documentation of repeated problems. The USDA inspector general is reviewing the agency\u2019s handling of the situation. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether criminal charges are warranted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe new records released by FSIS should be considered by the DOJ, especially as they potentially point to a wider, systemic problem,\u201d the lawmakers said in a statement. \u201cThese reports make clear that there is a culture of noncompliance of critical safety and sanitary protocols.\u201d<\/p>\n
In\u00a0a report released Friday, USDA officials said \u201cinadequate sanitation practices\u201d contributed to the outbreak. Product residue, condensation and structural problem in the buildings were key factors, the agency found. State inspectors working in partnership with USDA had documented mold, insects, liquid dripping from ceilings, and meat and fat residue on walls, floors and equipment,\u00a0the AP previously reported.<\/p>\n
USDA officials have promised new measures to control listeria in plants that make ready-to-eat foods, including broader testing, updated training and tools, increased inspections, more food safety reviews and stronger oversight of state inspectors who act on behalf of the agency.<\/p>\n
Boar\u2019s Head is hiring a \u201cfood safety culture manager,\u201d according to Frank Yiannas, a former official at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who is now advising the company.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Government inspectors documented unsanitary conditions at several Boar\u2019s Head deli meat plants, not just the factory that\u00a0was shut down\u00a0last year after a deadly outbreak of\u00a0listeria poisoning, federal records show. Newly released reports from Boar\u2019s Head plants in New Castle, Indiana; Forrest City, Arkansas; and Petersburg, Virginia, described multiple instances of meat and fat residue left […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}