Food safety experts have criticized government health inspectors for allowing a “Listeria factory” to operate despite dozens of disturbing violations before a deadly outbreak was linked to tainted Boar's Head deli meat products.
The company's factory in Jarratt, Virginia, was found to have suffered from insect infestations, blood stains on the floors and mold over the past year. According to the records This was announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
“These inspection reports show that this was both a meat plant and a listeria plant,” food safety attorney Bill Marler told The Washington Post.
“The government needs to answer questions about what they were doing. The scale of this factory should raise enough questions.”
At least nine people have died, including one New York resident, and 57 have been hospitalized since officials identified Jarratt's facility as the source of an outbreak of listeria infections, according to the CDC.
The state with the most reported cases is New York, where 17 residents have been sickened by the tainted deli meat. Two people have died in South Carolina, and one each in New Jersey, Virginia, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee and New Mexico.
Health inspectors found a total of 69 “non-compliances” at the Jarratt plant.
During a Feb. 21 inspection, an inspector noticed a “foul odor” inside the fresh food receiving area and “a large amount of blood in a puddle on the floor.”
The “black mold-like substance” was found throughout another storage cooler on Jan. 9 and on the outside of four steel barrels on June 1, along with an inch or two of meat.
Inspectors found mold in various locations during a total of six visits.
On June 10, inspectors found “approximately 15 to 20 flies flying in and out of four pickle barrels left in the room.”
Lee Ann Jacus, a professor of food, bioprocessing and nutritional sciences at North Carolina State University who read the report released Thursday, said another warning sign of imminent danger would have been condensation and clogged drains, which would have created constant moisture and created an ideal environment for Listeria to thrive.
“If I was an inspector at a plant like that, I would say, 'We desperately need to test for Listeria,' because a lot of noncompliance is a risk factor for having a Listeria problem,” Jacus told The Post.
Boar's Head recalled 7 million pounds of ready-to-eat deli meat and poultry products last month, following a smaller recall in early July when the outbreak was first identified.
The 119-year-old family-owned company has since closed the Jarratt plant but remains responsible for testing its own facilities for listeria, but those test results were not posted on the USDA website, officials said.
The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, which regulates meat processing plants, appears to be shifting the blame as to who is responsible for allowing the plants to operate.
The agency released a statement on Thursday explaining that the inspectors were actually employees of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), which has a contract with the USDA and is authorized to monitor the plants for compliance with federal standards.
“The facility will remain closed until we can demonstrate it can produce safe product,” an FSIS spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the agency is “working closely with VDACS to ensure the facility has effective systems in place to produce safe food for the public.”
This excuse didn't sit well with one food safety expert.
“FSIS is scrambling right now to save face. Of course, one way to do it is to say it's Virginia's fault, but ultimately it's a federal agency that's responsible,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Virginia officials told The Washington Post that officials are “conducting inspections every working day” at the Jarratt plant, adding that the plant must take “corrective action” for each “non-compliance.”
VDACS said it had taken 12 samples from the plant to a USDA lab for testing over the past year, all of which came back negative for Listeria.
Despite these efforts and the inspectors' extensive records, the Maryland State Department of Health sounded the alarm in July when it tested liverwurst samples for Listeria, leading to two recalls of Boar's Head products.
This is the largest listeriosis outbreak since the cantaloupe-linked outbreak in 2011.
Some victims are preparing lawsuits, including the family of Gunther Morgenstein, an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor from Virginia who died on July 18 after eating liverwurst purchased at a Harris Teeter supermarket on June 30.
The family's lawyer, Tony Coveney, said he was preparing a lawsuit against Boar's Head and expected to file the case as soon as this week.
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“The family is heartbroken,” Morgenstein's son, Gershon, said in a statement, adding that he hopes “through the legal process we can make Boar's Head and other lunchmeat products safer for consumers in the future.”
“We deeply regret the impact this recall has had on the affected families. Words cannot express our sympathy and deepest sorrow for those who have suffered loss and endured illness,” Boar's Head said in a statement.
The family of an Illinois resident who died from Listeria infection and other victims, including a 74-year-old Virginia woman who was in a coma for several days, contacted Mahler and filed a lawsuit against the century-old family-owned business.
“We only see a small percentage of the people who get sick,” Mahler said. “Many people with Listeria have symptoms like diarrhea and fever” but may not be hospitalized and therefore not tested for Listeria.
