The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2023–2025
Boar's Head: 69 violations on file, then 10 people died
Inspectors logged 69 sanitation violations at Boar's Head's Jarratt plant in the year before its listeria outbreak killed 10 and forced the plant's closure.
Boar's Head · 2024-09-16
What happened
In the year before the outbreak, USDA inspectors filed 69 reports of noncompliance at Boar's Head's Jarratt, Virginia plant: fat residue on equipment, drains blocked with meat, employees without hairnets, mold and mildew, puddles of blood, condensation dripping onto products within 10 seconds of cleaning, and live and dead insects. Production continued.
In July 2024 a sample of the company's liverwurst tested positive for listeria. The recall grew to more than 7 million pounds of deli meat; over 60 people across more than a dozen states fell ill and 10 died. On 13 September Boar's Head suspended the plant's operations, then confirmed the closure was permanent — along with the end of liverwurst for good.
The plant stayed shut for nearly a year. The USDA lifted the forced suspension on 18 July 2025 after 'thoroughly reviewing' the facility, and in August 2025 the company said the Jarratt plant would reopen 'in the coming months' — the same plant whose inspection record had been on the regulators' desk since 2023.
Why it happened
- Sixty-nine documented violations in a year did not stop production — the company ran a plant whose own records showed mold, insects and blood on the floor until listeria made the decision for it.
- The outbreak was traced to liverwurst, a niche product made at a plant whose hygiene had failed inspection for a year — the low-volume line got no extra scrutiny for its high-risk process.
- Boar's Head chose the maximum response — permanent closure of its flagship plant and permanent discontinuation of liverwurst — trading a brand built over 70 years for a clean inspection record.
The lesson
Boar's Head's inspectors filed 69 violations in a year; the company kept producing, and 10 people died. A documented hygiene failure is a decision in progress — the only question is what ends first.
Aftermath
The Jarratt plant's permanent closure was confirmed on 16 September 2024, and liverwurst was discontinued. After USDA cleared the facility on 18 July 2025 the company announced a reopening 'in the coming months' with retrained staff; the recall, the deaths and the 69-violation record made the case the standard example of inspection failure becoming a body count, and federal investigations continued through 2025.
Sources
- AP News — Boar's Head closing Virginia plant linked to listeria outbreak, 13 September 2024 (indefinite suspension of Jarratt operations; liverwurst discontinued)
- USDA FSIS — Recall notice 023-2024: Boar's Head Provisions Co. Recalls Ready-To-Eat Liverwurst And Other Deli Meat Products Due to Possible Listeria Contamination, 26 July 2024 (Class I recall, ~207,528 lbs, EST. 12612, 13 states; 34 sick, 2 dead as of 25 July 2024)
- Patch — VA Boar's Head plant to reopen after deadly deli meat listeria outbreak, 8 August 2025 (10 dead; 60+ sickened; 7M+ lbs recalled; 69 noncompliance reports; 18 July 2025 USDA clearance; reopening plan; sanitation details)
- Just Food — Boar's Head to permanently close listeria-linked Jarratt deli plant, 16 September 2024 (permanent closure confirmation)
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