The Boar’s Head deli meat plant at the heart of last year’s deadly food poisoning outbreak is set to reopen in the coming months, company officials said.
But recent inspections at Boar’s Head sites in three states documented sanitation problems similar to those that led to the listeria contamination that killed 10 people and sickened dozens.
The Jarratt, Virginia, plant was shut down in September when U.S. Agriculture Department officials suspended operations and withdrew the federal marks of inspection required to operate, saying the company “failed to maintain sanitary conditions.” Boar’s Head permanently stopped making liverwurst and recalled more than 7 million pounds of deli products.
USDA officials this week said they had “thoroughly reviewed” the plant and lifted the forced suspension on July 18.
“The facility is in full compliance of the guidelines and protocols set for the safe handling and production of food and the serious issues that led to suspension have been fully rectified,” officials with the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said in an email Wednesday.
And yet, documents obtained by The Associated Press through a freedom of information request show that Boar’s Head plants in Arkansas, Indiana and elsewhere in Virginia were flagged for the same kinds of sanitation problems that led to the outbreak, with the most recent report in June.
In the past seven months, government inspectors reported problems that include instances of meat and fat residue left on equipment and walls, drains blocked with meat products, beaded condensation on ceilings and floors, overflowing trash cans, and staff who didn’t wear protective hairnets and plastic aprons — or wash their hands.
The records, which included USDA noncompliance reports logged by inspectors from Jan. 1 through July 23, raise new questions about the company’s promises to address systemic problems and about federal oversight of listeria contamination in plants that make ready-to-eat foods.
“If there is evidence that food safety problems are continuing, the government needs to make sure the company fixes them,” said Sandra Eskin, a former USDA official who now heads STOP Foodborne Illness, a consumer group focused on food safety.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins last month announced plans to bolster efforts that combat foodborne germs, including listeria.
Officials at Boar’s Head, the 120-year-old company based in Sarasota, Florida, have posted job openings for two dozen positions, including a food safety quality analyst, at the Jarratt site.
The company convened a panel of expert advisers last fall and hired a chief food safety officer in May. The advisers include Frank Yiannas, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official, and Mindy Brashears, President Donald Trump’s nominee for USDA’s undersecretary for food safety.
Boar’s Head last year said they “regret and deeply apologize” for the