Consumers concerned about the Boar’s Head meat recall over listeria contamination can rest easy, according to a distributor for the company, who said Thursday that the liverwurst behind the initial recall was never available in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and all products in the expanded voluntary recall that followed have been removed from local store shelves.
Boar’s Head first issued a recall on July 26 for liverwurst prepared at its plant in Jarratt, Virginia, and then expanded that on Tuesday to include another 71 products — out of an abundance of caution, it said — because they were produced at the same facility, according to the distributor who is based in Puerto Rico and who asked not to be identified.
The expanded list of products was produced between May 10 and July 29 under the Boar’s Head and Old Country brand names, according to a notice from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. They have sell-by dates ranging from July 29 through Oct. 17. The full list may be viewed here.
All those products were removed from stores in the USVI as of 7 a.m. Tuesday after the expanded recall notice was issued at 11 p.m. Monday, the Puerto Rico distributor said, and the liverwurst products were never available here to begin with.
However, should consumers have any concerns about Boar’s Head products they purchased, they can return them to the store where they were purchased, he said. According to the USDA, the products shipped to retailers bear establishment number “EST. 12612” or “P-12612” inside the USDA mark of inspection on the product labels.
The problem was first discovered when the Food Safety and Inspection Service was notified that a liverwurst sample collected by the Maryland Department of Health tested positive for L. monocytogenes, according to the USDA statement.
In collaboration with the Baltimore City Health Department, it then collected an unopened liverwurst product from a retail store for testing as part of an outbreak investigation of L. monocytogenes infections. Further testing determined the product sample tested positive for the outbreak strain. Anyone concerned about illness should contact a healthcare provider, the USDA said.
As of Wednesday, 34 sick people have been identified in 13 states, including 33 hospitalizations and two deaths. Samples were collected from sick people from May 29 to July 12. The investigation is ongoing, and FSIS continues to work with the CDC and state partners, according to the USDA. The Centers for Disease Control Food Safety Alert, Listeria Outbreak Linked to Meats Sliced at Delis, will continue to be updated with the latest investigation details.
Consumption of food contaminated with L. monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects people who are pregnant, aged 65 or older, or with weakened immune systems. Less commonly, persons outside these risk groups are affected.
Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions, sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms, according to the USDA. Symptoms usually start within two weeks after eating contaminated food but may start as early as the same day or as late as 10 weeks after, the CDC reports.
Listeriosis is treated with antibiotics. Persons in the higher-risk categories who experience flu-like symptoms within two months after eating contaminated food should seek medical care and tell the health care provider about eating the contaminated food, it said.
Consumers with questions regarding the recall can contact Boar’s Head Provisions Co., Inc., Customer Service at 1-800-352-6277. Consumers with food safety questions can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854) or send a question via email to MPHotline@usda.gov.
For consumers that need to report a problem with a meat, poultry, or egg product, the online Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System can be accessed 24 hours a day at https://foodcomplaint.fsis.usda.gov/eCCF/.
