Boar's Head deadly listeria outbreak: Food safety lawyer asks Congress to investigate

A food safety attorney is calling on lawmakers to investigate Boar's Head after discovering three years of inspection reports. 

Bill Marler is urging Congress to investigate a listeria outbreak tied to Boar's Head meats sliced at deli counters, including Boar's Head brand liverwurst, which has already sickened nearly 60 people and killed nine.

The Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), "inspection reports that I reviewed on the plant were some of the most troubling I have seen in 30 years of reviewing hundreds of such reports," Marler told FOX Business, adding that "both the company and the inspectors need to answer questions about how such conditions could persist for such a long time."  

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FSIS inspectors found dozens of health and safety violations at the company's Jarrett, Virginia, plant from January 2022 through Aug. 1, 2024, including piles of rotting meat, mold and insects, both dead and alive, around the facility. Additionally, "standing water containing a brown mud/dirt like substance" was observed in the plant, as well as a "black mold like substance." 

"These are the perfect place to grow listeria and the absolutely wrong place to produce deli meat," Marler said.

Boar's Head, which temporarily suspended operations at the plant, says it is disinfecting the facility, enhancing policies and procedures and providing additional training to employees.

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However, Marler argued the company needs to do more, such as offering "to pay all the victims medical bills and lost wages right now." 

"They should also turn over all listeria test results over the last few years," Marler said, adding that the company is facing potential criminal sanctions for violating the Federal Meat Inspection Act.

Marler also believes that FSIS should have shuttered the plant a long time ago given the "repeated violations of the law." 

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this marks 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. This brings the total number of infected people to 57, all of whom have been hospitalized, according to the CDC.

One of the people infected is a pregnant woman from Minnesota who is now 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.

Boar's Head previously told FOX Business that all operations have been suspended at the Virginia plant, and that no more products will be released until the plant "meets the highest quality and safety standards."

The company said it is working with "leading global food safety experts to conduct a rigorous investigation to get to the bottom of the events leading to this recall." It is also disinfecting the plant, enhancing policies and procedures and providing additional training to employees. 

FSIS also told FOX Business that it is working with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to "ensure the establishment has an effective system in place to produce safe food for the public."