Nearly two years before a deadly listeria outbreak linked to recalled deli meat, inspectors at a Virginia Boar\u2019s Head plant detailed poor physical conditions that \u201ccould pose an imminent threat,\u201d documents from the US Department of Agriculture\u2019s Food Safety Inspection Service show. <\/p>\n
Inspection reports from the Boar\u2019s Head facility in Jarratt, Virginia, have described insects, mold, \u201cblood in puddles on the floor\u201d and a \u201crancid smell in the cooler\u201d at various points since 2022. <\/p>\n
Additional details, first reported by the New York Times, date to September 2022, when \u201cmajor deficiencies\u201d with the plant\u2019s physical conditions were identified, including rusty equipment, peeling and flaking paint, loose caulk, holes in walls, product residue on surfaces and dripping condensation. The reports said plant management was notified and directed to take corrective action. <\/p>\n
Operations at the Virginia plant have been paused, and the company previously said it was taking time to disinfect, enhance policies and procedures and train employees. It also said it is working with food safety experts to investigate the events leading to the recall, which was first announced in July. <\/p>\n
FSIS said in a statement Wednesday that its investigation into the outbreak is ongoing, including a \u201cholistic look at Boar\u2019s Head establishments across the country.\u201d It said the agency will review factors that led to the outbreak at the Virginia facility, \u201cwhat needs to be improved, and if there are lessons learned that could be more broadly applied to ready-to-eat meat and poultry facilities.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Virginia Boar\u2019s Head facility is inspected by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as part of the Talmadge-Aiken Cooperative Inspection Program, which allows some states to provide federal inspection services. <\/p>\n
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last month that 57 people have been hospitalized in 18 states in connection with the listeria outbreak, and nine people have died. The agency called it the largest listeria outbreak since one linked to cantaloupe in 2011. <\/p>\n
The actual number of illnesses is probably higher than what\u2019s been reported because some people may have had milder illnesses and were not tested for listeria, the CDC said. The agency continues to advise consumers to check their kitchens for recalled products, which have \u201cEST. 12612\u201d or \u201cP-12612\u201d inside the USDA mark of inspection on labels and have sell-by dates into October 2024. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Nearly two years before a deadly listeria outbreak linked to recalled deli meat, inspectors at a Virginia Boar\u2019s Head plant detailed poor physical conditions that \u201ccould pose an imminent threat,\u201d documents from the US Department of Agriculture\u2019s Food Safety Inspection Service show. Inspection reports from the Boar\u2019s Head facility in Jarratt, Virginia, have described insects, mold, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1350,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"loftocean_post_primary_category":0,"loftocean_post_format_gallery":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_ids":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_urls":"","loftocean_post_format_video_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_video_url":"","loftocean_post_format_video_type":"","loftocean_post_format_video":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_type":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_url":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_audio":"","loftocean-featured-post":"","loftocean-like-count":0,"loftocean-view-count":555,"tinysalt_single_post_intro_label":"","tinysalt_single_post_intro_description":"","tinysalt_hide_post_featured_image":"","tinysalt_post_featured_media_position":"","tinysalt_single_site_header_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header_style":"sticky-scroll-up","tinysalt_single_site_footer_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_footer":"0","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}