Expect more illnesses in listeria outbreak tied to Boar's Head deli meat, food safety attorney says

A prominent food safety lawyer says more illnesses can be expected and Congress should investigate Boar's Head after deli meat produced in one of the company's plants was linked to an ongoing multistate listeria outbreak.

The outbreak has led to at least 57 hospitalizations and nine deaths in 18 states since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially reported it on July 19. The CDC on Aug. 28 reported six new deaths connected to the outbreak including the first deaths in New Mexico, New York, South Carolina (2), and Tennessee.

There will likely be more illnesses, and possibly more deaths, because the incubation period for listeria may last more than two months, so people who consumed tainted deli meat in July could still develop illnesses, said Bill Marler, a Seattle attorney who specializes in food safety.

The CDC's investigation found that meats sliced at deli counters, including Boar's Head brand liverwurst, were contaminated with listeria and made people sick. Subsequently, Boar's Head expanded its recall to include every product made at the facility in Jarratt, Virginia.

This week, inspection reports from the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service revealed that inspectors found insects, mold and mildew at the plant over the 12 months before it was voluntarily shut down because of the outbreak.

"This is the worst set of inspection reports I have ever seen," Marler told USA TODAY.

Listeria outbreak map: See which 18 states have been affected by outbreak tied to Boar's Head deli meat

Congress should investigate how the listeria outbreak arose and why inspectors allowed the plant conditions to exist for so long, says Marler, who is representing the family of one person who died and two others who had illnesses in the outbreak.

"It's crazy. Not only was this plant better at producing listeria than it was at producing meat, but also, what were the inspectors doing?" he told USA TODAY.

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Boar's Head list of recalled deli meats

The CDC says its data found that meats sliced at deli counters, including Boar's Head brand liverwurst, were contaminated with listeria and made people sick.

After a link was confirmed between the liverwurst and the outbreak, Boar's Head said on July 29 it "voluntarily decided to expand our recall to include every item produced at the same facility as our liverwurst. We enacted this broad and precautionary recall totaling seven million pounds because we believed it was the right thing to do."

A list of the recalled products is embedded below – and here's where to see labels of recalled products.

What did federal inspectors find at the Boar's Head plant?

Inspectors found insects – alive and dead – black and green mold, and mildew, within the plant in the weeks before Boar's Head Provisions Co., Inc, issued a July 26 recall of more than 200,000 pounds of liverwurst due to potential listeria contamination.

In June 2024, inspectors also saw "a steady line of ants" on a wall and in February 2024 found "Ample amounts of blood in puddles on the floor" in the plant's Raw Receiving cooler. "There was also a rancid smell in the cooler."

"It's a layup, whether you are a Republican or Democrat, to have congressional hearings on why this happened and why FSIS inspectors let this thing drag on," Marler said.

Overall, the Food Safety and Inspection Service filed 69 reports of "noncompliances" over the past year at the plant. The agency records were first obtained by CBS News through a Freedom of Information Act request; USA TODAY has also made a request for the inspection documents and independently confirmed the reports.

Map shows which states are affected by listeria outbreak

The CDC reports nine people have died and 57 people have been sickened across 18 states by a listeria outbreak linked to sliced deli meat.

The following map shows where the 57 people in the listeria outbreak lived. Deaths occurred in Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico and South Carolina (2).

Contributing: Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY

Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Boar's Head recall, listeria outbreak: See full list of recalled items