Fresh listeria fears as expert issues chilling warning about Boar’s Head meat products
An advocate is warning that more Americans will get sick from Boar’s Head products contaminated with listeria, which have already killed nine people this summer.
According to Seattle food safety attorney Bill Marler, the deadly disease has a two-month incubation period, meaning some customers who ate contaminated deli products may not have developed the illness yet.
Nine people have died and 57 were hospitalized in 18 states after millions of tainted grocery store items in July caused the largest listeria outbreak in America in more than a decade.
Boar’s Head began recalling meat on July 26 and expanded the recall list again in early August. Since then, the Virginia plant at the center of the outbreak has been found to be infested with black mold, mildew and insects.
“It’s crazy. Not only was this plant better at producing listeria than it was at producing meat, but what were the inspectors doing?” Marler said USA TODAY.
More Americans are likely to get sick from Boar’s Head products contaminated with listeria, which have already killed nine people this summer, a lawyer says.
Above is the Jarratt, Virginia plant, the center of the Listeria outbreak
Reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service said inspectors saw a trail of ants crawling across the walls, mold and mildew on surfaces, and the floor covered in “extensive blood” and a “rancid odor.”
Food safety advocate Bill Marler has warned that more people are likely to get sick from the listeria outbreak at Boar’s Head
“This is the worst inspection report I’ve ever seen,” Marler said.
The report found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture found 69 violations last year at the company’s $1 billion Virginia plant.
Boar’s Head has a list released of 57 products – all produced at the Jarratt factory – from smoked hams and turkey to liverwurst pate and olive terrine bread, totalling more than seven million pounds of food.
The listeria outbreak has so far led to deaths in 18 states, including Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico and South Carolina.
It is the largest foodborne illness in the U.S. since the 2011 cantaloupe outbreak, when listeria-contaminated cantaloupe sickened 147 people and killed 33.
Boar’s Head supplies meat to delis such as Walmart, Kroger’s, Target and Save-a-Lots.
Gunter “Garshon” Morgenstein, a father of three from Newport, Virginia, is pictured above with his wife, Peggy. He died after contracting a listeria infection after eating Boar’s Head deli meats
Morgenstein had eaten a Boar’s Head liverwurst the day before he got sick. This meat is now included in the multi-state recall for listeria-contaminated products
Among the victims was 88-year-old Gunter Morgenstein, a father of three and Holocaust survivor who regularly ate the company’s liverwurst because it reminded him of his native Germany.
A few days after eating a Boar’s Head product in July of this year, Morgenstein became fatigued and had difficulty breathing and was rushed to the hospital.
According to doctors, he had been infected with listeria and had developed meningitis, a fatal brain inflammation.
He died on July 18 of this year, just ten days after being admitted.
His son Garshon told his father’s story to DailyMail.com: ‘I think this is one of the biggest things that shocked my mother and I the most: that he survived the Holocaust and died years later from the effects of processed meat.
“It’s actually ridiculous when you think about it. That’s part of the irony of the whole story.”
Sue Fleming, 88, and her husband Patrick, 76, are suing deli meat manufacturer Boar’s Head and the store where they bought the meat after Mrs Fleming became “seriously ill” with listeria.
Boar’s Head is bracing itself for a series of lawsuits from sick customers.
One of them is 88-year-old Sue Fleming of Missouri, who filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer after she became “deathly ill” in July after eating a sausage from a deli.
Fleming, who lives with her husband Patrick, 76, in High Ridge, ate a Boar’s Head liverwurst late last month after buying it at the local grocery store.
But in the days that followed, she suffered from nausea, diarrhea and stomach cramps, followed by shaking and pain throughout her body.
She was rushed to the hospital, where tests confirmed a listeria infection, the lawsuit says. She spent nine days in intensive care and 11 in rehabilitation, but claims she continues to suffer from neurological symptoms and has not fully recovered.
The couple is now suing Boar’s Head, seeking more than $25,000 in damages for medical and legal expenses, and for harm to their “enjoyment of life” and their marital relationship.
This is the exterior of the factory, which Boar’s Head says is now closed for cleaning.
At least two people have died and 34 have been sickened in a multi-state listeria outbreak linked to Boar’s Head deli meats. More people are likely infected, the CDC said.
Boar’s Head said in a statement: “We deeply regret the impact this recall has had on the families affected.
“There are no words that can fully express our sympathy and the sincere and deep pain we feel for those who have suffered loss or illness.”
Boar’s Head added that the Jarratt, Virginia, plant at the center of the crisis has been closed for cleaning.