In the wake of ongoing recalls of deli meats contaminated by listeria, health inspectors found dozens of violations while checking a Boar’s Head Plant in Virginia, according to new records released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The records state that mold, insects, and mildew were found repeatedly throughout the site. In July, federal inspectors found what looked to be mold and mildew around the hand washing sinks for the workers tasked with meats that are supposed to be ready to eat. Mold was also found building up outside of steel vats used by the plant, previous records show, as well as in holding coolers between the site’s smokehouses.
Other locations were found to have various issues with leaking or pooling water, including a puddle found to have “a green algal growth” inside and condensation that was found to be “dripping over product being held.” After inspectors flagged one of the leaks to the company, workers tried to mop up the leaks, the records state.
Numerous records also flag sightings of insects in and around deli meats at the plant, including one instance that prompted the agency to tag more than 980 pounds of ham in a smokehouse hallway to be “retained” for an investigation. In June, another record emphasized concerns over flies going in and out of “vats of pickle” left by Boar’s Head in a room. Meanwhile, other parts of the facility had what looked to be “ants traveling down the wall,” as well as a beetle and a cockroach.
Last month, Boar’s Head recalled all of the deli meats made at its plant in Jarratt, Virginia, following a listeria outbreak attributed to products distributed from the facility. Samples from unopened products distributed by the Boar’s Head plant were found by authorities in multiple states to be contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes after genetic sequencing linked the bacteria from the products to the strain driving the outbreak.
The outbreak has resulted in 57 hospitalizations in 18 states, and at least nine deaths have now been reported, including two in South Carolina and one each in Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico and New York. Around 7 million pounds of meat has been recalled.
“This is the largest listeriosis outbreak since the 2011 outbreak linked to cantaloupe,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
According to records released by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to CBS News through a Freedom of Information Act request, there was a total of 69 “non-compliances” flagged by inspectors over the past year at the Jarratt plant. While the agency is ultimately responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations at the plant, a spokesperson for the agency said Thursday it was relying on staff from Virginia to keep the site up to par.
The agency is now working with the state to “ensure the establishment has an effective system in place to produce safe food for the public,” according to an FSIS spokesperson.
Reports published by the USDA so far show no “enforcement actions” taken against Boar’s Head in the past year.
