Boar’s Head to shutter facility linked to deadly Listeria Outbreak

The below press release was posted not he Boar’s Head website a few hours ago.

It is sad that Boar’s Head management let the food safety culture go so far down the drain that it requires closing a factory and putting employees on the street. The impact on this small Virginia town will be felt by many.

The folks below picked to be on Boar’s Head Food Safety Counsel, I know and respect. I just hope management listens to them.

Here are a couple of words to remember:

1. Be transparent – be open and honest with the public, Congressional and Justice Department inquiries.
2. Pay the medical bills, lost wages and other expenses of the victims and their families – treat them like you would your own family.
3. Whatever you learn during this process, share with other members of the industry so a tragedy like this never, ever happens again.

Here is the full release:

To Our Valued Consumers:

We regret and deeply apologize for the recent Listeria monocytogenes contamination in our liverwurst product. We understand the gravity of this situation and the profound impact it has had on affected families. Comprehensive measures are being implemented to prevent such an incident from ever happening again.

Since we implemented our voluntary recall on July 25, 2024, we have been conducting an exhaustive investigation into how our liverwurst product became adulterated. We recognize you want and deserve answers, and that you wanted them quickly, but we needed to take the necessary time to conduct an in-depth review and analysis of all our processes and procedures – not just at our Jarratt, Virginia plant where our liverwurst was made, but at all of our Boar’s Head Provisions meat production facilities.

Throughout this process, we worked closely with the USDA and state government regulatory agencies, and we thank them for their oversight. We have also partnered with the industry’s leading food safety experts to oversee this investigation. They have left no stone unturned at Jarratt. We can now start to share some of their findings with you and we are committed to sharing more as our work proceeds.

First and foremost, our investigation has identified the root cause of the contamination as a specific production process that only existed at the Jarratt facility and was used only for liverwurst. With this discovery, we have decided to permanently discontinue liverwurst.

In response to the inspection records and noncompliance reports at the Jarratt plant, we will not make excuses. In the spirit of complete transparency, we are sharing with you the July 31, 2024 USDA Notice of Suspension received by our Jarratt facility here. 

Given the seriousness of the outbreak, and the fact that it originated at Jarratt, we have made the difficult decision to indefinitely close this location, which has not been operational since late July 2024. It pains us to impact the livelihoods of hundreds of hard-working employees. We do not take lightly our responsibility as one of the area’s largest employers. But, under these circumstances, we feel that a plant closure is the most prudent course. We will work to assist each of our employees in the transition process.

This is a dark moment in our company’s history, but we intend to use this as an opportunity to enhance food safety programs not just for our company, but for the entire industry.

To prevent future incidents, we are immediately implementing enhanced food safety and quality measures. These measures include:

• Appointing a new Chief Food Safety & Quality Assurance Officer (CFSO), reporting directly to Boar’s Head’s president. The company is recruiting now and aims to have this new executive begin as soon as possible.
• Establishing a “Boar’s Head Food Safety Council” comprised of independent industry-leading food safety experts, some of whom have been assisting with the current investigation at the Jarratt facility. The Food Safety Council, which may evolve over time and as needed, will assist the company’s adoption and implementation of enhanced quality assurance (QA) programs and create a new standard for food safety in the industry. The council will serve as advisors to the new Chief Food Safety Officer and to the company as a whole.We are pleased to announce the appointment of our founding council members: 
• Dr. David Acheson, Dr. Mindy Brashears, Dr. Martin Wiedmann, and Frank Yiannas, MPH.David Acheson, M.D., F.R.C.P., has a distinguished career in food safety and has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Acheson Group since founding the global food safety consulting group in 2013. Previously he served as a Partner and Managing Director of Leavitt Partners, where he founded and managed the firm’s food safety services business. Prior to his industry roles, Dr. Acheson served at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for eight years, progressing from Chief Medical Officer of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition to Associate Commissioner for Foods. His expertise in international food safety standards and risk assessment is invaluable to the council.
• Mindy Brashears, Ph.D., is a leading food safety expert and academic. Dr. Brashears was the former U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Food Safety and is currently a professor of Food Safety and Public Health and the Director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University. She has made significant contributions to the field of food microbiology and public health with her research on foodborne pathogens, prevention, and food safety education that have made lasting impacts on the industry and will be instrumental in guiding our council’s efforts.
• Martin Wiedmann, Dr. med. vet., Ph.D., is a renowned food microbiologist and academic, who is a Cornell University Gellert Family Professor in Food Safety and the co-director of the New York State Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence. With training as both a veterinarian and food scientist, Dr. Wiedmann’s programs focus on a comprehensive and interdisciplinary farm-to-table approach to food safety and quality. He has conducted extensive research on foodborne pathogens and their prevention, with notable insights into emerging food safety threats and cutting-edge technologies that will contribute significantly to our council’s work.
• Frank Yiannas, MPH, is the former Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy & Response at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Mr. Yiannas brings a wealth of experience in regulatory oversight and public health. His leadership in implementing the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) has significantly improved food safety standards across the nation. A renowned food safety expert, microbiologist, and author, Mr. Yiannas has also held food safety leadership roles at Walmart and Disney. He is a past president of the International Association for Food Protection and a past vice-chairman of the Global Food Safety Initiative, as well as an adjunct Professor in the Food Safety Program at Michigan State University. Mr. Yiannas’s vast experience in building effective food safety management systems through innovative ways and his founding work on food safety culture will be pivotal in shaping our food safety programs going forward.
• Creation of an enhanced companywide food safety and QA program. Our company’s goal is to develop an industry-leading program that addresses food safety standards and strengthens a culture of food safety throughout the supply chain. To be led by the Chief Food Safety Officer, this program will be developed in partnership with members of the Food Safety Council and other leading food safety experts in the field.

We remain steadfast in our commitment to our customers and to the safety and quality of our products. You have our promise that we will work tirelessly to regain your trust and ensure that all Boar’s Head products consistently meet the high standards that you deserve and expect. We are determined to learn from this experience and emerge stronger.

Sincerely,
Boar’s Head

Republished with permission from Bill Marler and Marler Clark. Copyright (c) Marler Clark LLP, PS. All rights reserved.

Source: https://www.marlerblog.com/case-news/boars-head-to-shutter-facility-linked-to-deadly-listeria-outbreak/