Members of Congress have written a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) expressing their concern about the agency’s failure to prevent the fatal Boar’s Head listeriosis outbreak, and asking the agency to answer specific questions about its actions leading up to the event.
USDA-Contracted Inspectors Reported Serious Food Safety Issues at Boar’s Head Facility for Years
In July 2024, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) notified the public about a nationwide recall of Boar’s Head ready-to-eat (RTE) deli products, following dozens of sicknesses and several fatalities caused by Listeria monocytogenes infection linked to the consumption of Boar’s Head liverwurst. As of September 25, at least 59 people have been sickened and ten deaths have occurred as part of this foodborne illness outbreak.
In the time since the recall was initiated, USDA-FSIS inspection reports dating back to January 2022 have come to light, showing a history of serious food safety noncompliances at Boar’s Head’s Jarratt, Virginia plant where the products implicated in the outbreak were made. Such noncompliances include the presence of mold and insects, meat residues on processing equipment, rust and chipping paint throughout the facility, dripping condensation, and other hazards. Despite inspectors recording and notifying plant staff of these problems, they seemingly went unaddressed as they continued to occur. USDA-FSIS contracted Virginia state inspectors to carry out routine inspections of the Jarratt facility, rather than deploying federal staff to conduct onsite inspections.
The Jarratt, Virginia plant has been shut down by Boar’s Head.
Congress Members Question USDA-FSIS About Why Fatal Outbreak Was Not Prevented
Although USDA-FSIS revealed that a criminal investigation is being pursued against Boar’s Head because of the outbreak, this action is too little, too late to avoid scrutiny by Congress and the public. “It is appalling that seemingly no enforcement actions have been taken against Boar’s Head despite the reported repeated records of major noncompliance,” stated the letter from U.S. Congressional representatives to USDA, dated September 30, 2024. “What is especially troubling is how egregious sanitation problems occurred despite supposed regular oversight; oversight which typically includes at least one inspection per shift.”
The letter, addressed to USDA-FSIS Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. José Emilio Esteban and USDA-FSIS Administrator Paul Kiecker, asks several questions in order to better understand how the conditions contributing to the fatal listeriosis were allowed to persist:
- What was the scope and nature of the contract in place between USDA-FSIS and Virginia State regarding onsite inspections?
- How often did a USDA inspector (not a contracted state inspector) visit the Jarrat, Virginia facility?
- What enforcement actions are available to USDA to address noncompliance issues, and why were they not implemented? Can FSIS shut down a facility for being unsanitary? How is inspection data managed?
- Will FSIS consider amending its Listeria Rule—which states that an establishment must sample for L. monocytogenes to verify sanitation program efficacy, but does not have to perform further confirmatory testing on positives—to better ensure that establishments conduct routine testing for L. monocytogenes and require confirmatory testing on positives?
- Was Intensified Verification Testing as required by FSIS Directive 10300.1, including L. monocytogenes sampling, conducted at the Jarratt, Virginia plant?
- Were any FSIS food safety assessments conducted at the Jarratt, Virginia plant between August 30, 2022 and August 30, 2024, and were any enforcement actions taken as a result?
- Does USDA-FSIS have any recent evidence of the Listeria Rule’s efficacy in controlling L. monocytogenes in RTE products? Does USDA-FSIS conduct sufficient sampling to analyze trends in product samples?
- Did Boar’s Head conduct its own Listeria testing at the Jarratt, Virginia plant?
