The Biggest Deli Meat Recall In Boar's Head History

Recalls of all kinds are sadly common these days, but few of them rock companies the way the Boar's Head's 2024 deli meat listeria recall did. Deli meats and cheese have been common sources of listeria recalls, which can live at lower temperatures than other food-borne illnesses like salmonella, and is not killed by refrigeration. Along with other deli meat companies, Boar's Head has had other recent listeria outbreaks, but none were as bad as the one that happened in 2024, which was serious enough to become not just the biggest deli meat recall Boar's Head ever had, but one that cost lives and ended up closing an entire plant.

The recall was announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on July 26th, 2024, and centered around the production of Boar's Head liverwurst. Initially limited to that and 8 other products that were produced on the same line, the outbreak was bad enough that within four days the recall was expanded to 7 million additional pounds of meat over 71 different Boar's Head products that were produced over a wide three-month time span. 

By the time the outbreak was officially declared over by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), people in 19 states had gotten sick and 10 had died. While the deaths were the most serious outcome, they weren't the end of the saga, which included a class-action lawsuit and an investigation into Boar's Head's production facilities that uncovered serious mismanagement.

The liverwurst that was linked to the Boar's Head listeria outbreak came from a plant in Jarratt, Virginia and the company said the outbreak was related to a specific process that was used only for liverwurst. However a later Freedom of Information Act request revealed the plant had more than 70 reports of larger unsanitary conditions going back years. 

They included a host of problems including live insects, green and black mold, mildew, leaking water, the presence of sludge on machines, putrid odors, large amounts of flaking rust, and garbage on the floor. A later USDA report confirmed the findings of unsanitary conditions. Even before that final report, Boar's Head had made the decision to close the Jarratt plant, laying off 500 workers, and completely end the production of liverwurst.

This was accompanied by Boar's Head settling a class-action lawsuit over the recall along with several other wrongful death cases, although the details of the settlements have not been released. In response to the unprecedented scale of the listeria outbreak Boar's Head has since announced new safety measures, including appointing an independent council of experts from the USDA and FDA. That's all well and good, but given the ignoring of repeated, clear warning signs leading up to one of the worst listeria outbreaks in U.S. history, it's clear that Boar's Head needed a total overhaul of how they prioritize safety.