A deadly listeria outbreak linked to the company's iconic cold-cut brand Boar's Head has caused meat sales to plummet by 30 percent at supermarkets and delis across New York, according to information obtained by the New York Post.
New York state has been particularly hard hit, with the state health department investigating 17 cases of listeriosis, including eight in New York alone.
Last week, the federal agency said one in nine people across the U.S. had died from the virus.
New Yorkers have been wary of cold cut foods in general since news of the outbreak broke, a trend that local supermarket executives say has only accelerated with recent news of rising cases and deaths.
“Sales of all of our prepared foods are down,” said one New York City grocery executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “People are trying to understand what's happening to cold cuts, and the recent news hits all too close to home.”
The chain's cold cut sales were down at least 10% as of last week, an executive told The Washington Post, adding that news of six new deaths last week “is impacting people's thinking, especially when it comes to children.”
Sales of Boar's Head products have fallen 30% at 20 Morton Williams grocery stores in the New York metropolitan area, co-owner Avi Kanner told The Post.
“Customers are avoiding the brand and looking for alternatives,” Kanner said, but he added that for Morton Williams, overall deli sales, including prepared foods, have remained “strong” despite the listeria scare.
Stop & Shop said it temporarily closed its deli counters in July to deep clean its facilities but said it continued to sell Boar's Head.
“We currently have no affected products in our stores and continue to adhere to high hygiene standards in our delis,” the company said in a statement. “We are in discussions with our supplier and no additional recalls are planned.”
Stop & Shop declined to comment on whether customers were avoiding the brand.
Boar's Head pointed this out in a blog post. The recall only affects certain meat products produced at a single plant in Jarratt, Virginia, “ranging from fresh sliced liver sausage, bologna and smoked ham sold primarily at the deli counter to a limited number of prepackaged retail sausage, frankfurter and bacon products.”
The century-old company, based in Sarasota, Florida, said turkey, chicken, roast beef, charcuterie and cheese are not part of the recall.
To reassure anxious customers, Boar's Head last week began distributing signs to be posted on deli counters.
The placard states the company is “committed to product quality and safety.”
Last month, the National Supermarkets Association warned its 750 independently owned members, including Key Food, C-Town, Associated and Bravo, to remove Boar's Head signs from their stores until further notice.
“We don't believe we are responsible,” Nelson Eusebio, the NSA's political director, told The Post in August. “But [lawsuits] It's a concern.”
Boar's Head recalled more than 7 million pounds of meats and cheeses, including liverwurst, in late July after some products tested positive for Listeria.
The company issued two recalls for all products made on the same equipment as its liverwurst at a plant in Jarratt, Virginia, which is currently closed for an investigation into the outbreak.
It's the worst listeria outbreak in the U.S. since 2011, when 147 people became sick and 33 died after eating cantaloupe.
So far, the government has confirmed that 57 people have become ill and eight have died from Boar's Head products.
According to an inspection report released last week by the USDA, the Jarratt, Virginia-based plant had more than 60 “non-conformances” over the past year, including unsanitary conditions such as high flying insect infestations, foul odors, mold, meat particles on surfaces and condensation dripping onto products.
Some of the company's distributors have been telling supermarket customers that five additional deaths announced by the CDC last week were not new cases, a claim that has some grocers skeptical.
“Our wholesalers are trying to argue that nothing new is happening and that these deaths are due to original cases in people who were already sick,” a supermarket executive, who asked not to be named, told The Post.
