Remember that listeria outbreak linked to a Boar’s Head plant that resulted in several dozen hospitalizations and at least nine deaths across 18 states? The USDA has released its full report on the conditions within several Boar’s Head plants across three states and, well, if you’re a lover of deli meats, this article will only become more disgusting and disconcerting if you read beyond this paragraph.
To say that things were unsanitary at the Boar’s Head plants in Indiana, Arkansas, and its already shuttered Virginia plant would be quite the understatement. Meat residue! Mold! Insects! Condensation dripping onto food! Areas that hadn’t been cleaned in literal years! One inspector noted the “general filth” in a room at the Boar’s Head’s Indiana plant.Two years later, inspectors found a doorway slathered in “dried meat juices and grime.”
They found green mold in a 2022 inspection.
The next year, inspectors found “unidentified slime” and “an abundance of insects.”In 2024, a puddle of “blood, debris, and trash” was a highlight of a visit.
In 2020, they found “dry crusted meat from the previous day’s production” along with some delectable sounding “dark, stinky residue.” As a side note, it’s nice to know that the USDA and CDC use words like “stinky” in their official documentation.
Boar’s Head officials responded by saying that the violations do not meet their high standards and that they will do better and blah blah blah you know, the same old same old language people use when they get caught slacking. Just, in this case, they slacked so hard people died from it.As Boar’s Head faces several lawsuits in the wake of the listeria outbreak, the USDA itself is facing criticism from Senators Richard Blumenthal and Representative Rosa DeLauro for not coming down harder on Boar’s Head after it continued to be a disgusting cesspit over several years.
The USDA’s Inspector General is now looking into the agency’s handling of the Boar’s Head situation. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice is looking into whether Boar’s Head should be brought up on criminal charges.