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Boar's Head Closes Virginia Plant After Deadly Listeria Outbreak

Recalled deli products produced at the facility have resulted in a reported 57 hospitalizations and nine deaths due to listeria infection. The brand is implementing company-wide food safety measures as a result.

Boar's Head Liverwurst Discontinued
As a result of the Listeria outbreak at its Virginia plant, Boar's Head is discontinuing production of liverwurst.
Image provided by USDA

Deli meat producer Boar’s Head is indefinitely closing its Jarratt, Va., plant after a Listeria outbreak linked to the plant hospitalized dozens across 18 states. The company cites production processes at the plant as the root cause of the contamination.

The closure comes after Boar’s Head ready-to-eat liverwurst products and other deli products produced at the facility were linked to a Listeria outbreak that has hospitalized 57 and killed nine thus far, according to the CDC.

   CDC issues warning for recalled Boar's Head products.

The company announced the closure Friday as a part of its measures to “prevent such an incident from ever happening again,” it explained in a release. About 500 employees will be impacted by the shutdown, according to a union spokesperson.

The facility has not been operational since the recall was first enacted in late July 2024. The decision to close the facility comes after Boar’s Head’s investigation “identified the root cause of the contamination as a specific production process that only existed at the Jarratt facility and was used only for liverwurst,” the company said in its announcement.

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