New Yorkers are feeling the pinch in their pocketbooks after a listeria outbreak has affected 7 million pounds of cold cuts. (Credit: WNYW)
The death toll has risen in the listeria outbreak tied to Boar’s Head deli meat, according to federal health officials.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has declared this the largest listeria outbreak since 2011, when the bacteria was linked to cantaloupe.
About 14 more illnesses and six more deaths have been reported since early August as the outbreak tied to the meats sliced at deli counters, including Boar’s Head brand liverwurst, persisted, according to the CDC’s latest update published Wednesday.
As of Wednesday, 57 people have been infected with the outbreak strain of listeria across 18 states, all of whom have been hospitalized. This includes a pregnant woman from Minnesota suing Boar’s Head after she claims she “nearly lost her unborn child” when infected by listeria after eating the company’s deli meat sold at a Publix supermarket in Florida.
Nine people have died – one in Illinois, one in New Jersey, one in Virginia, one in Florida, one in Tennessee, one in New Mexico, one in New York and two in South Carolina, the CDC said.
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Boar’s Head did not respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
The CDC reported that epidemiologic, laboratory and traceback data revealed that meats sliced at delis, including Boar’s Head brand liverwurst, are contaminated with listeria and making people sick. Health authorities in multiple states reported that unopened Boar’s Head products had tested positive for the same strain that is making people sick in the outbreak.
Boar’s Head products at a Publix grocery store in Athens, Georgia. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via / Getty Images)
Over the past year, health investigators discovered nearly 70 violations at the Boar’s Head plant in Virginia where it produces the now-recalled meat, according to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service records obtained by CBS News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The records of “noncompliances” flagged at the Jarratt plant by the USDA inspectors include paperwork lapses, leftover meat on equipment and leaking or pooling water.
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The company was cited several times for mold or mildew building up around the company’s facilities as well as for insects in and around the deli meats at the plant, according to the documents.
A recall notice is posted next to Boar’s Head meats that are displayed at a Safeway store on July 31, 2024, in San Rafael, California. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
In January, inspectors even noted that there was a “black mold like substance” seen throughout a room.
The USDA did not respond to FOX Business about whether the company has faced any enforcement actions stemming from the violations.
Boar’s Head told CBS that all operations have been suspended at the plant and that no more products will be released until the plant “meets the highest quality and safety standards.”
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Boar’s Head meats are displayed at a Safeway store on July 31, 2024, in San Rafael, California. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
In a statement on its website, Boar’s Head said after it was notified that a sample of Boar’s Head Strassburger Brand Liverwurst collected by the Maryland Department of Health tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes, it immediately recalled the item “along with nine other items produced on the same production line and on the same day as our liverwurst.”
“Once our liverwurst was linked to the deli meat outbreak, we took immediate and decisive action,” the company said. “In the interest of public health and safety, we took the extra precautionary step to recall every item produced at the plant where our liverwurst was made. We enacted this broad and precautionary recall because we believed it was the right thing to do.”
The company said all Boar’s Head items currently available in food retail and food service outlets have not been recalled and are not part of this outbreak.