This episode of Food Safety Five discusses updated USDA-FSIS guidance on Listeria testing in RTE facilities, the latest on the Boar’s Head facility behind the fatal outbreak of 2024, and a real-world Listeria “Seek and Destroy” success story.
Boar’s Head has reopened its Jarratt, Virginia production facility, which was closed after being implicated in a fatal listeriosis outbreak in 2024. The company says the plant, which had exhibited serious food safety and hygiene violations, has undergone renovations and enhancements.
A new paper describes U.S. regulatory agencies’ roles in two recent, high-profile foodborne illness outbreak investigations—the Boar’s Head listeriosis outbreak and the McDonald’s Escherichia coli outbreak—and highlights the shortcomings and strengths in how the outbreaks were managed.
The Congressional Food Safety Caucus, headed by U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro, has requested that Boar’s Head representatives appear before the caucus to justify the reopening of its Jarratt, Virginia plant, where the meats behind a deadly 2024 Listeria outbreak were produced.
Boar’s Head is reopening its Jarratt, Virginia plant that produced the deli meats behind a fatal listeriosis outbreak in 2024; however, inspections of the facility are being taken over by UDSA-FSIS directly, instead of relying on a state cooperative agreement.
Boar’s Head is planning to reopen a production plant that was linked to a deadly, multistate listeriosis outbreak in 2024. Meanwhile, inspection reports obtained by the Associated Press show that insanitary conditions similar to those that caused the outbreak continue to plague other Boar’s Head facilities.
Boar's Head has appointed Natalie Dyenson, M.P.H. as its new Chief Food Safety Officer, a new role at the organization that was established as part of a series of initiatives to prioritize food safety following a significant listeriosis outbreak linked to Boar’s Head deli meats in 2024.
On February 13, Boar’s Head designated a companywide ‘Boar’s Head Food Safety Promise Day’ and unveiled new safety and sanitation controls and processes, following the fatal listeriosis outbreak linked to its products in 2024.
USDA-FSIS published a summary of its review of the deadly Boar’s Head Listeria monocytogenes outbreak, along with newly announced long-term measures to review and modernize its L. monocytogenes regulations and ready-to-eat (RTE) sampling programs.
Boar’s Head has responded to a letter from 22 members of Congress probing the company about the recent, fatal listeriosis outbreak linked to its products. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who signed the letter, called Boar’s Head’s response “not credible” and “a classic corporate dodge.”
