Boar's Head liver sausage was in the last lunchbox.
Boar's Head announced last Friday that it would stop making some of the most controversial cold cuts on its deli counters.
Liver sausage has been hit by Listeria infections which have led to large-scale product recalls.
“The investigation determined that the root cause of the contamination was a specific manufacturing process that was present only at our Jarratt, Virginia facility and was used only for liverwurst,” the company said in a statement.
“As a result of this discovery, we have decided to permanently stop producing liverwurst.”
It may be an uncomfortable moment for food manufacturers, but the reality is that liverwurst, a once-loved flavour, is falling out of favour.
“Liverwurst is probably one of New York City's least popular sandwiches,” Eater New York's Robert Sietzema wrote in an April essay about his journey to find the liverwurst sandwich in a city known for its Old World deli culture.
“A sandwich filling made from rye, pumpernickel or whole wheat and seasoned with mustard and sometimes raw onion, liverwurst was a staple in many kids' packed lunches 30 years ago, but even then it seemed oddly outdated.”
This year, I searched for liverwurst sandwiches in five Manhattan delis.
“Nobody seemed to know it,” he wrote. “At least the older sandwich makers knew what it was.”
Liverwurst is an emulsified sausage that originated in Germany and is made by mixing pork liver and other innards with spices, and is now becoming more and more common.
Liverwurst is generally affordable for families, and in the American culinary tradition it was often sliced into supermarket white bread sandwiches, a popular lunch item.
Some versions of liverwurst are soft, like a pâté, and spread on bread.
Liverwurst was so popular during World War II that it helped fuel resentment against rationing.
“Liverwurst caused a minor crisis last week,” Time magazine reported in 1943.
“Rating was imposed at seven points per pound and it lost much of its appeal. Liverwurst had a shelf life of only a few days, so traders gazed gloomily at their rotting stocks.”
The publication lists the place as top-notch for “steaks, chops, liverwurst and all-around honest butcher's meat.”
Liverwurst appears to have grown in importance, if not exploded in popularity, through the 1980s.
It was the best time.
Now the worst times are coming.
“People always think it's gross when I eat liverwurst,” one outraged person posted on Reddit last year, defending the deli's signature dish.
“I asked the lady at the deli how many people order liverwurst and she told me I'm literally the only person who's ordered it in the last year,” @spvcebound wrote.
“Why don't you like liverwurst?”
For those who can stand the ridicule and minced pork liver, liverwurst remains the first choice.
“A liverwurst sandwich with mustard might just be the perfect lunch for me,” the same person wrote.
