Boar’s Head Death Toll Climbs to 9 as Bugs, Mold, & Mildew Found in Meat Plant

The fallout from the Boar’s Head listeria contamination continues as the nationwide death toll climbs to nine people. The updated death toll comes amidst reports of the Virginia meat plant’s records being made public, and the plant’s conditions were nothing short of horrifying.

Boar’s Head Virginia Plant: Bugs, Mold, & Mildew

Most of Boar’s Head’s current issues come courtesy of Trump-era regulatory rollbacks, which The New Republic called “turning back the clock” on meatpacking plants, creating conditions first found in Upton Sinclair’s groundbreaking 20th-century book, “The Jungle.“

A report from CBS News revealed just how dangerous the Virginia plant had become and how it resulted in the nationwide contamination crisis.

U.S. Department of Agriculture authorities in several states discovered that unopened product samples from the Boar’s Head plant were tainted with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria. Genetic sequencing established a connection between the strain of bacteria causing the outbreak and the products.

Following a Freedom of Information Act request, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service provided CBS News with records of 69 “noncompliances” that the agency had identified at the Jarratt, Virginia, factory over the previous year.

In addition to problems such as incomplete paperwork and meat residue on machinery, the documents reveal that inspectors repeatedly cited Boar’s Head for mold or mildew accumulation near the business’s Jarratt locations. When federal inspectors visited the hand washing sinks used by the employees who handle meats that should be fit for consumption in July, they noticed what seemed to be mold and mildew.

According to earlier records, mold was also seen growing outside of steel vats that the facility employed, as well as in holding refrigerators located between the smokehouses. Several other spots saw multiple leaks or pools of water, one with “a green algal growth” inside the puddle and another with condensation “dripping over product being held.”

The USDA also criticized the corporation for leaks of other kinds, in addition to water problems. An inspector discovered “ample amounts of blood in puddles on the floor” and a “rancid smell” coming from a plant chiller in February.

Insect sightings in and around the plant’s deli meats are also noted in several records. One such case led the FDA to tag over 980 pounds of ham in a smokehouse hallway and designate it as “retained” for further investigation. Another record from June raised worries about flies entering and exiting “vats of pickle” that Boar’s Head had left in a room. Bugs were also discovered in other areas of the building, including a cockroach, a beetle, and what appeared to be “ants traveling down the wall.”

Boar’s Head ‘Deeply Regrets the Impact’

In a statement to USA Today, a Boar’s Head company spokesperson, Elizabeth Ward, said that they “deeply regret the impact this recall has had on affected families.”

“As a USDA-inspected food producer, the agency has inspectors in our Jarratt, Virginia, plant every day and if at any time inspectors identify something that needs to be addressed, our team does so immediately, as was the case with each and every issue raised by USDA in this report,” Ward said while claiming that food safety is the company’s “absolute priority.”

Earlier this month, all of Stop & Shop’s delis were temporarily closed until the matter with Boar’s Head is rectified, the company announced.

The potentially tainted meats were prepared at a Virginia plant from June 11 to July 17 and sold around the nation. The USDA reports that a Boar’s Head liverwurst from Maryland tested positive for listeria.

Boar’s Head reportedly removed over 100 tons of its popular deli meats, including liverwurst products that may have been tainted with the listeria bacteria, according to the USDA.