Following a Listeria outbreak linked to the deaths of nine people, the Boar’s Head Provisions Co. has announced the indefinite closure of its meat-packing plant in Jarratt, which sits in Greensville and Sussex counties.
“This is a dark moment in our company’s history, but we intend to use this as an opportunity to enhance food safety programs not just for our company, but for the entire industry,” the company wrote on its website.
In a prepared release, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 400 Union that represents the plant’s workers, wrote that the outbreak was “not the fault of the workforce,” adding, “it is especially unfortunate that the Jarratt plant must close indefinitely and put so many men and women out of work.”
The union also wrote that it has reached an agreement with the company to relocate the Jarratt workforce to other plants or provide severance pay.
Boar’s Head also announced it will permanently stop producing liverwurst.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched an investigation into what it described as the largest Listeria outbreak in the United States since 2011 — linked to liverwurst produced at the Jarratt plant between June 11 and July 17 and shipped internationally.
That outbreak triggered a massive recall of more than 7 million pounds of meat. The CDC currently believes the outbreak was responsible for nine deaths and the hospitalization of 57 people nationwide.
One of those hospitalized was Barbara Schmidt of Williamsburg, who filed a lawsuit against the corporation in federal court on Sept. 6. Schmidt alleges that she became violently ill after consuming Boar’s Head liverwurst that she bought at a Harris Teeter.
“And within a few days had classic symptoms – neck ache, headache, body aches,” said her Seattle-based lawyer, Bill Marler, who also represents six other people suing Boar’s Head in similar situations.
“She was lucky to pull it out,” he said. “A lot of people don’t.”
It’s the second Virginia-based lawsuit related to the outbreak. The family of Gunter Morgenstein, an 88-year-old Newport News resident whose death has been linked to the listeria outbreak, has filed a wrongful death suit in the company’s home state of Florida.
“This situation was tragic in that it was preventable,” said Tony Coveny, the lawyer representing Morgenstein’s family. “The application of good manufacturing practices is meant to prevent this sort of tragedy from happening in the future. There were a lot of lapses in sanitation in the facility.”
An attorney representing Boar’s Head’s declined to comment on the suits, citing pending litigation.
